Say What?
by KaliScarlet
Summary: AU. Batman has five sons. Say what? Robin has an older twin sister. Say what? She has the entire League of Shadows after her. Hold up. Say what? Rated T for now, may change, mainly for language.Sorry really bad at summary. Not slash! Batfamily!
1. Jason's Prologue

**Say What?**

**Summary**

AU. Batman has five sons. Say what? Robin has an older twin sister. Say what? Oh and she has the entire League of Shadows after her. Say what? She's also the mother of the two baby birds! Say what? Sorry really bad at summaries.

Me: Woo! First fanfiction ever! No flames please!

KaliScarlet: *sweat drop* Oh man this should be interesting.

Me: You're sarcasm is not needed!

KaliScarlet:: Uh-huh. Hurry up already! No one wants to hear your blathering! Just do the disclaimer already!

Me: You are no fun.

Robin: Not whelmed, not whelmed at all.

KaliScarlet: Can it, Boy Blunder!

Me & Robin: It's Boy Wonder!

KaliScarlet: Whatever! Me does not own Robin or any other characters associated with YJ, Batman, or Batman Beyond. Songs go to their respective owners!

A/N: Italics are thoughts. Words is eye speak (you'll find out what that is later).

A/N: Ah sorry another thing! Jason is the oldest then Dick, Tim, Damian, and Terry.

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**Jason's Prologue (Three years ago)**

**Somewhere in Russia***

Pain. Pain was all that registered in young Jason's mind as he shifted his bloodied body to face the door. He could feel the blood ooze from his head and torso to the gray concrete staining it a rusty red.

_F***ing Joker! Where the hell is he? Ugh. Stay awake, Todd. You gotta stay awake. Vision's going away. Where's Bruce? _The corner of his vision begins to fade to black as he reaches the metal door. A soft, incessant beeping reverberates through the abandoned warehouse alarming the thirteen year old of his inescapable doom. _Well…Fu- _The warehouse erupts in a ball of fire. _Jason!_ Outside a hooded shadow stands in horror before rampaging through the rubble to find a cleared out space with a slip of stark white paper pinned on the cleaved concrete where Jason's blood had colored. The bat chokes back a sob upon seeing the amount of blood loss. He snatches the paper.

'The boy will be treated for his wounds, rehabilitated, and returned safely. – Ra.' The printed note only increased the Dark Knight's concern even more. As he was about to burn the note he notices the small, neat hand writing of a young girl on the back. 'I will get Jason back to you as soon as possible. Next month would be the maximum time limit. – Phi G.' Batman narrows his eyes with suspicion; he turns to head towards the League of Shadow's ruler, Ra al Ghul when a voice comes in over his comm.

"Sir, you are needed." A British accent floats through his head.

"Not now, Alfred." Batman grits his teeth as he runs to his discarded bike.

"Sir, I implore you to return home. Master Richard has been kidnapped." The old man's voice held a touch of urgency indicating a new level of worry since the old butler rarely used any emotion at all. Batman remained silent; his inner conflict boils as he contemplates between his two sons' situations. "Sir?" Alfred's voice draws the conflicted father out of his ponderings.

"I…" The Dark Knight begins before a small body lands onto his bike perching on the small windshield. "I have company, call back later." The vigilante drives over to a shoulder in the snowy road. He stares up at the figure only to raise an unseen eyebrow. The figure was obviously a young child even in the darkness of the night. The child flips backwards off the windshield into the headlights of the motorcycle. The child was a young girl dressed in black Kevlar.

"What do you want?" Batman growled at her not needing the distraction. The girl did not talk and yet she seemed to speak into his mind as he stared into a pair of oddly familiar, piercing, blue eyes.

Go to the other boy. Her eyes seemed to say. Jason will be alright. I promise. Batman hesitates for a second.

"How can I trust you?"

You just have to. She stares at him before a gust of snowy wind envelopes her.

"Who are you?" Batman yells into the darkness. Receiving no answer he quickly returns to the road heading to the airport.

00000 Line Break 000000

**Somewhere in Arabia**

_~ I remember tears streaming down your face when I said "I'll never let you go"~_

_~ When all those shadows almost killed your light. ~_

_~ I remember you said, "Don't leave me alone" ~_

_Ugh. I feel like shit. Where am I? Who's singing?_ Jason panics as he cracked his eyes open just a bit to locate the source of the singing. The voice was obviously from a child, yet there was a mature, depressing undertone in the song. The voice was obviously female as well, hauntingly enchanting and calming. The lyrics continue until Jason moves his head to hear better. The source of the voice hovers over to his prone state. By now Jason's vibrant emerald eyes meets familiar blue.

"Dickie?" Jason rasped out through parched lips. The owner of the blue eyes widened its gaze in recognition before shaking her head. The teenager feels a cool liquid brush over his lips. Gulping the water hastily, the boy tries to sit up properly only to be stopped with a soft but firm touch. "Where am I?" The two children never wavered in their gaze.

Hell. The girl's eyes flashed in sadness and pain before resetting to a fierce determination. But I'll get you out I promise.

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A/N: Ah! Don't hurt me! I know it's missing some things, and yes I tweaked the story line a little. I'm sorry!

Please review! Thanks!


	2. Richard's Prologue

Me: Yay! New Chapter!

KaliScarlet: woopdee doo. It sucks.

Me: You're so hurtful! Why are you even here?

KaliScarlet: This is my account dumb one!

Me: Robin can you help me!

Robin: Uh... *evil eye from KaliScarlet*... no can do, sorry.

KaliScarlet: Mwahahaha!

Me: *screams* I do not own Young Justice, Batman, Batman Beyond, or any songs that may appear in this story! *Runs away*

* * *

Richard's Prologue

Set after "Performances" (six months ago)

Richard looked up at the smiling man before him, confused and alarmed. "It's Dan. Dan Danger." The ringleader pats the young man on his shoulders.

"Son, you've grown, but some things never change. Like the sight of a Grayson on a trapeze. You can't fake that, can't hide it. Just like I told you're sister last month… dang it."

"Wait, a sister? What do you mean?" Mr. Haley sighs.

"Son, what I'm about to tell you may shock you. You may want to sit down." The ring leader guides the stunned Dick to his desk. "Where to begin…"

"I have a sister? A living sister?" Richard whispers. Mr. Haley rubs the back of his neck nervously.

"You see Richard; you were not the only child to Mary and John Grayson. Sophia Saraphine Grayson was and still is your older twin sister." The old man pauses to allow the information to settle.  
"I have a twin? An OLDER twin Sister?" The boy wonder gasped loudly. "Why can't I remember her? Where has she been all these years?"  
"About that... You and Sophia were six at the time when we ran into a group of traffickers out in San Jose, California. We didn't know who they were until it was too late. You and your sister were playing at a local park; the two of you were inseparable. Anyways, like I said you two were playing when the band of men came behind you. Your mother had walked off a little to find a good, shaded place for lunch while your father was suppose to be watching. And he was until someone tried to pickpocket him. We later found this to be ruse to get him distracted." Haley took a breath before continuing.  
"While your father was distracted, chasing the thief, you and your sister were being cornered by the dark clothed men. Your sister had started shouting loudly when she first saw them. Her cries alerted your mother who ran as fast as she could to reach you two. However, she never made it in time. Just before they could snatch you, son, your sister pushed you roughly into the jungle gym. You fell onto one of the metal poles and blacked out completely. By the time your mother had shown up, your sister was gone, and you were lying under a covered portion of the jungle gym."  
"You were immediately rushed to the hospital for the head injury while your parents spoke with the police. The policemen were corrupted though and were paid off to disregard your parents' plea for help. When you were in the hospital, we found out that you had no recollection of your twin. However we had hope that you would remember so we could identify the men who took Sophia sadly this did not happen. Your memory was too scattered. After you were released from the hospital, we packed up and headed down the tour route, stopping at more cities than planned in hopes to find young Sophia. Two years had gone with no luck at all. We were on the last leg of the North American tour before going to Europe when we stopped in Gotham City. It was our last desperate stop."  
"You never found her, did you?" Dick's voice came out as a whisper. The old ring master smiled sadly.  
"Actually as luck would have it, one of the performers saw your sister running fearfully away from a band of demented clowns. The performer ran after her to save her but sadly, the young man died by poison. Your sister was safely back in our arms, though. We were going to meet you when Tony Zucco appeared. Your mom and I had told you briefly that your sister had returned before that man came in and ruined everything."

"The day they... They fell was the day my sister was suppose to come home?" The stunned boy whispered incredulously. _That's just too cruel._ "Does Bruce know about her?"

"Yes, your... Guardian knows about her existence. I told him the day he came to pick you up. However with the trauma you had just witnessed, your memory had a relapse and so you forgot about your sister again. We both decided to not tell you about her until the right time came. Ironically she was taken again by another group of people who said she belonged to them. Poor girl when we had finally gotten her back she was mute and obviously broken. Your sister was actually here as well last month in saying she was looking for you. I told her that you lived in Gotham with Bruce and his other sons. After that she just disappeared without a trace. She's better now than when we first saw her. She seems like she has a purpose now, much like you." Mr. Haley smiled gently at his considered grandson. "I know this is a lot to process, and I'm sure Mr. Wayne will be more than willing to answer your questions regarding Sophia."

"Mr. Haley," a performer dressed in leather knocked, "we are departing Geneva and will be arriving in Satigny in fifteen minutes."

"Thank you Bart." Robin looked at the grandfatherly figure before him. "So do an old ring master one last favor?" Richard smiled.

00000000000Line Break000000000000

"Ladies and gentlemen, the farewell performance of the Daring Dangers!" The ring master's voice echoed through the big tent. Spotlights hit Dan Danger who waved before flying off.

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A/N: Okay so I'm done with that one... it sucks doesn't it? Please Review! Next chapter should be in the present-ish


	3. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay so Kal isn't here right now so I'll make this short. I don't own any of the Young Justice, Batman, or Batman Beyond characters. I also don't own any of the songs used in here. Sorry if they're too OC. I haven't read all the comics yet... or the cartoons... Oh! I also tweaked the ages. Don't hurt me!

Ages:

Jason: 16

Richard: 13

Tim: 11

Damian: 4

Terry: 3

So without further ado...

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Gotham City (Wayne Manor to be exact)

Present-ish (a week ago)

"No." Bruce's gruff voice remarks. The receiver's face falls sharply.

"But, Bruce…" The other voice whines.

"Jason, I will only repeat this once. No you cannot go to the arcade today. Your grades are slipping and you had three detentions this week."

"Those were not my fault! The stupid sh…"

"I hope there is a good noun in that closing sentence, Master Jason." Alfred remarks behind him.

"The stupid shrimps were taunting me. I couldn't just let them get away with it." Bruce rolls his eyes.

"Yes you can and you should have. So as punishment you will be on babysitting duty the next few days while Alfred and I go to Boston on a business trip. Do I make myself clear?" Jason grumbles under his breath. "I didn't hear you."

"I said fine!" The agitated boy stalks off towards the front door.

"Jason where are you going?"

"I'm taking a walk!" He shouts before slamming the door, his angry muttering could still be heard outside the heavy wooden door. Bruce pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Was I ever like that, Alfred?"

"Sir, if I'm being perfectly honest, Jason is only a third of what you were at that age." Bruce sighs.

"I can't imagine myself in your position then Alfred. I'm glad Tim wasn't down here. He hates when Jason is angry."

"Indeed." Alfred chuckles dryly before resuming his cleaning. A small figure scurries away from the banisters.

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"Stupid school, stupid assholes, damn Bruce, FML! Can't seem to do anything right!" Jason mutters as he grinds the soles of his shoes into the pavement. He stops at a familiar place. Ravenswood Park was his safe haven, so to speak. The place he could let off some steam when being at home became too unbearable for a complex teenager like himself. Also no one bothered him for being Bruce Wayne's adopted son since it was a semi-private park. Sighing he slouches on the edge of a fountain's rim unaware of the figure sitting a little ways away. The figure turns and seems to recognize his anger as the person picks up a beaten acoustic guitar. The person strums a few chords before setting a beat.

_~ Days like this I want to drive away~_

Jason looks up at the sound of the guitar. The voice sounded familiar but he could not put reason to it.

_~ Pack my bags and watch your shadow fade~_

_~ You chewed me up and spit me out~_

_~ Like I was poison in your mouth~_

_~ You took my light, you drained me down~_

_~ That was then and this is now~_

_~Now look at me~_

The voice easily distinguished the gender of the singer, a female. The soft music begins to ease the tension built inside the angsty teen.

_~ This is the part of me that you're never gonna ever take away from me, no~_

_~ This is the part of me that you're never gonna ever take away from me, no~_

_~ Throw your sticks and stones~_

_~ Throw your bombs and your blows~_

_~ But you're not gonna break my soul~_

_~ This is the part of me that you're never gonna ever take away from me, no~_

As the girl sings some passerby's slip spare change into the open guitar case, smiling at her efforts. Jason notices the emotion in the girl's singing.

_~ I just wanna throw my phone away~_

_~ Find out who is really there for me~_

He sees a vision of her crying in pain like he had done when he still lived on the streets.

_~You ripped me off, your love was cheap~_

_~ Was always tearing at the seams~_

_~ I fell deep and you let me drown~_

_~ But that was then and this is now~_

_~ now look at me~_

He sees his parents abandoning him and the darkness that followed before it melted away to show Bruce in costume offering his hand out. He smiles at the memory that relieved him from eternal hardship. By now all his anger has dissipated as he watches the young girl sway to the song.

_~ This is the part of me that you're never gonna ever take away from me, no~_

_~ This is the part of me that you're never gonna ever take away from me, no~_

_~ Throw your sticks and stones~_

_~ Throw your bombs and your blows~_

_~ But you're not gonna break my soul~_

_~ This is a part of me that you're never gonna ever __take away from me, no_ ~

She strums the last chords on her guitar, the last note holds a second longer before she finishes. Clapping surprises her as she opens her closed eyes to see a small audience that neither she nor Jason seemed to know when had it formed. She bows bashfully before collecting the money from the case as the small group disperses to continue on their day. Just as she stands up straight a couple of roller blading kids knock her over spilling the coins into the fountain.

"Hey! Watch it!" Jason yells at the kids who had stopped in fright. "Come over here and apologize." The kids obey and apologize to the presently laughing girl who waves them off. She steps into the fountain to collect her coins and the kids quickly follow her. She bows her head in thanks before waving them as they dash off to continue their race. The girl shakes her head and sighs before wincing as she touches her ankle. Jason notices a slight bruise forming around a small cut.

"Are you alright?" The girl nods her head. "Here" He hands her a small band aid. The girl bows her head again in thanks as she applies it. "You don't say much do you? The name's Jason by the way. Nice to meet you." The girl looks up quickly at the sound of his name. Jason stares back at a familiar, brilliant blue that seemed to haunt him in his dreams. He gasps slightly. "Uh…" He feels a hypnotizing pull in his mind that also feels memorable.

Hey Jason. Long time no see. Jason hears a soft voice in his head. Startled he looks around the girl before determining that it was the girl who had spoken.

"Whoa, huh? Do I know you?" A flash of sadness and guilt flits across the young girl's face.

It's me, So… 

"Hey you're not supposed to be here! This is a private park no street performers without a permit. Get back here!" A cop rushes over to the couple. Without a second to think the girl had her things gathered and her feet over a broken portion of fence behind the fountain. She sticks out her tongue childishly at the cop before looking sadly at Jason. The cop turns bright red and runs after the girl. Her laughter flitters behind the wall of ivy plants heading down the sidewalk that stretched behind the park. _Oddly familiar laughter too…_ Jason was about to go after the strange girl when his jacket vibrated.

He sighs, "Hello?"

"Jay? Where the hell are you?" The recognizable voice of Bruce Wayne's second eldest son barks into his older brother's ear.

"Ow! Dick!" He mutters angrily. "I'm at Ravenswood, geez."

"Well come back home! You've been gone for an hour!"

"Oh no an hour!" He says dramatically.

"I'm serious, Jay. Bruce is about to go all DaddyBats over here. Plus Dami and Little T want you." Jason's face softens at the names of his youngest siblings.

"Have you given them their stuffed toys? … What? They're in the wash after what? … Oh. Fine, I'll be there in five." He ends the call before running home in fear of the wrath that is DaddyBats. As he approaches the front door of Wayne Manor, Alfred opens the door before Jason has a chance to slow down.

"Third floor study, Master Jason." Alfred calls after the blur that was Jason Todd-Wayne.

"Thanks, Alfred." Jason yells behind him as he rushes the stairs. Crying levels increase as he approaches his destination. Inside the room an unhappy Tim and desperate Dick stare down at their youngest brothers who were crying their eyes out on the floor. Dick's face lights up when he sees his older brother. Tim looks displeased.

"Five point six minutes, Jason. You're late." Tim states dryly.

"Jay! You're here! Please help me calm them down!" Jason sighs before he picks up the distraught young Damian Wayne. Terry Wayne was already in Dick's arms cooing happily at being lifted.

"Hey there Dami, what's wrong?" Jason soothes.

"Nu…Nuthin… hic… Todd!" Jason and the two older boys roll their eyes at the toddler's antics.

"C'mon Dami, tell Brother Jay what's wrong?" Damian sniffles and rubs his eyes with his pudgy hands.

"Nu." The boy says shakily. "Tu nu mă va iubi mai!"(1) The older boys' eyebrows raise but for Dick it was for another reason.

"Uh, Dick isn't that…" Tim looks to his older brother in confusion.

"Romanian, but why would Dami know Romanian? Bruce said that he was from Arabia."

"Deoarece maică noastră ne-a învăţat." Terry pipes in from Dick's arms. "Dar noi nu ar trebui să vorbească română." (2)The younger toddler smushes his mouth with his small cherub hands giggling softly. Damian groans after calming down from his outburst.

"Fratele, maică a zis să nu spun!"(3) Terry only giggles more.

"Opri din ras! Ea-diavolul ne va mânca!" (4) Damian shrieks before crying into Jason's chest. Terry stops giggling immediately and attempts to bury his small body into Dick's chest.

"Uh… Dick would you care to translate?" Tim asks hesitantly.

"Huh?" The thirteen year old boy snaps out of his stunned stupor. "Uh yeah, Terry said that their mom taught them Romanian, but they weren't supposed to tell anyone. Apparently if they did, a she-devil was going to eat them."

"I'm confused. Why would Talia say that?" Jason scratches the back of his head with his free hand.

"It's a strange family. I mean remember when the two of them first came?" Tim questions. The three older Waynes reminisce back to almost a year ago when they first saw the two toddlers.

00000000000000000000000 Flash Back 00000000000000000000000000

Wayne Manor

Early Christmas Morning (2:30 AM to be exact)

The doorbell rings in the seemingly dark house of Wayne. Alfred quickly walks down the stairs with a lit candle to answer the door before the noise woke up the rest of the residents who had returned early from their nightly excursions. Alfred peeks out from behind the thick mahogany door to see a dark figure walking away from the estate into the snowy landscape of Gotham. He almost closes the door completely when he hears a tiny wail from under his nose. Looking down he sees a twin seat stroller with two bundles gathering snow on the front steps.

"Oh my Lord." The old British butler gasps as he pushes the stroller into the warmth of the house. He finds a note attached to smaller of the two bundles resting in the stroller. He quickly reads the letter under the candle light before looking swiftly at the two bundles, surprised. "Oh my."

"Alfred what's going on? Is that a stroller?" A sleepy Tim walks up behind him rubbing his eyes that refused to stay open for more than a few seconds.

"Master Timothy! You should be in bed… But while you are here, would you mind to watch the stroller while I awaken Master Bruce?" Tim nods subconsciously, unaware of his agreement. Alfred sighs before rushing to Bruce's bedroom.

Moments later a frazzled Bruce Wayne and the other two, sleep- deprived sons tumble to the foyer. Tim was using the parked stroller to support his head as he lightly snoozed waiting for the rest of the family.

"Boys, go back to sleep. I'll see what this is about and tell you in the morning."

"It's already morning, Bruce." Dick yawns before heading back up the stairs where Jason had unfortunately passed out on. "Whoops." Dick tumbles on top of Jason and promptly falls unconscious. Bruce sighs before helping Tim over his idiotic brothers to get back to his room. Turning back Bruce studies the note that Alfred had previously handed to him and the stroller. The small wails had turned into soft whimpers, alerting the two adults the need for attention. Bruce picks up the larger of the two bundles and uncovers the face of the child. Two, identical, navy blue eyes stared silently back at him while Alfred gasps causing a bout of giggles from the smaller bundle. The two adults placed the tiny toddlers on a pile of pillows, which the older siblings were supposed to tidy up the night before, securing them snuggly with their cherub faces looking up at them. The tinier toddler giggled and cooed while the other remained silent with an almost brooding facial expression. Bruce proceeded to pick the lazy boys off the hardwood stairs, silently chuckling over the inevitable sore necks they would receive later.

At the stroke of nine, the younger Waynes were huddled around the mound of pillows that held two babies.

"Who do you think they are?" Dick asks Jason who was rubbing out a kink in his neck.

"Dunno. Maybe they're clones like Superboy was."

"But they're like babies." Dick proclaims. His older brother shrugs nonchalantly. While the two debate on the new arrivals' origin, Tim stares at the two boys with a new emotion stirring in his chest. He feels uncomfortable around them but the nine year old remains quiet as the boys' father finally emerges at ten.

"Merry Christmas, Bruce!" The three chime causing the toddlers to stir. The obviously older on wakes more quickly scanning the room suspiciously while moving his body in front of his younger companion as a human barrier. _Aw_ Dick thinks as the family stares at the two babies.

"What's going on here? Where are we?" The older toddler demands with a scathing tone eyeing the occupants suspiciously.

"You are in Wayne Manor, found this morning on our doorsteps." Bruce speaks softly to the boy whose navy eyes had widened at the announcement of his location. "Your…caretaker left you under my care. Are you Damian?" The toddler nods stiffly. "Then that must be Terry, am I correct?" Nod. "Is your mother Talia Al Ghul?" Again another stiff nod follows. The boys gasp in surprise, unaware that their adoptive father ever had an affair with the Lady of the League of Shadows. Bruce sighs muttering incoherently under his breath. After a moment he turns back towards the toddlers, Terry had finally woken up. "Well welcome to the family. I'm…"

"Bwuce Wayne, our fadher asth well asth de Batman." Terry speaks incredulously even though his words slurred from sleep surprising everyone as their secret came out. Damian glares at the other boys then looks behind him to check Terry for any injuries. They seem to have a staring contest as if exchanging thoughts before Terry nods. "Otay, bwother. Ma… Phi G says this place is safe, wight?" Damian dips his head. An awkward silence falls over them before Dick breaks it.

"Well now that you're here then we can celebrate! It's Christmas! The more the merrier, right? C'mon Little D, T let's have some fun." Dick grins widely, his bright blue eyes sparkling in the morning light. The familiarity of the color draws crystal tears to Terry's eyes. Damian spots this and immediately squishes his brother's face together with his tiny hands, forcing Terry to look into his eyes. Terry smiles a little before wiping away the unshed tears and sniffles. He hugs Damian who rolls his eyes but has a small smile grace his lips. The other family members stare in utter confusion at the two just as Alfred comes in with two equally wrapped but different colored presents.

"Packages for Masters Damian and Terrance." Everyone eyes the two boxes warily. Terry squeals happily before throwing his blanket over his stoic brother and runs towards the bright neon green one while his brother untangles himself from his brother's blanket's clutches. Grunting as he finally extracts his body from the fleecy claws; Damian walks over to the forest green box and grabs an extra piece of paper from the top.

"Wait Terry. Phi G says we wait for others to have presents too." Damian passes his little brother a large note that had pictures instead of words to express the message. Bruce's eyebrows raise unnoticeably at the sender's name. Terry pouts cutely and huffs, but he leaves his present in its pristine condition resisting the urge to utterly demolish it to get to the toy inside. The two boys stare at the rest of the family patiently waiting for the others to get their presents. Dick, Tim, and Jason share a glance with each other before running over to the oversized Christmas tree to grab their own presents. The boys come back to sit next to the newcomers Indian style.

"So as a tradition in the House of Wayne, on the count of three, everyone has to open his present in three seconds or they lose one of Alfred's famous cookies." Jason states with a faux tone of regality. "Three, Two, One! Go!"

Shreds of paper fly around the room causing the two new family members to scoot closer together and inch away from the strange older boys. Terry, though, gets caught up in the moment and tears into his present. His squealing signals to his brother that he adores his new present, a chibi bat. Damian, unlike his brother, unwraps his present carefully, setting the paper aside before looking into the box. He smiles widely for split second before his mask of indifference is placed back on. Before him laid a stuffed Bengal tiger, it had a small button on its front left paw. The four year old makes a note to press the button later.

00000000000000000000000000 End of Flash Back 0000000000000000000000000000

"So how mad is Bruce, again?" Jason asks sheepishly before feeling a presence behind him. Tim and Dick gulp slightly while Damian smirks and Terry giggles happily unaware of the tension forming in the study. "That mad huh. Uh… Timmy can you take Dami?" Tim scoffs lightly but agrees to hold his younger brother. Jason turns around to see a very stoic Bruce with a deepened frown on his face. "Uh… Hey Bruce."

"You are so dead, Bro!" Dick calls out as he runs out of the study, Terry in his arms and Tim holding Damian on his heels.

"Gee, thanks bro." Jason mutters while looking up at his father who had switched his arm position to cross his broad chest. Jason laughs nervously.

"Hey Dami what got you so hyped up about?" Tim sets Damian down as they near the living room.

"Nothing you need to worry about, Grayson!" Damian growls, though it sounds more like a puppy, as he looks out a large window as the rain pours down in sheets.

* * *

A/N: Yay! finished! Such a long chapter! Any who the following are translations.

1. No, you won't love me anymore

2. Because our mommy taught us, we're not supposed to speak Romanian.

3. Brother, mommy said not to tell!

4. Stop laughing! The she-devil will eat us!

A/N: Okay so can anyone tell me whether Dick is actually Romani or Romanian? and review please!

You know you want to~

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	4. Chapter 2

Me: Reviews! Thank you Stevie. X!

KaliScarlet: Congratulations you have one review.

Me: It's a precious comment and should not be subjected to your criticism!

Damian: Tt, your happiness is unnecessary.

Me: Not you too, Dami!

Damian: Tt.

KaliScarlet: I like you, kid. Much better than Boy Blunder over there. (Points to Dick tied up and gagged)Won't shut up this one. Stop struggling! It'll only make it hurt more!

Me: Robin! *Rushes over to untie* what were you saying?

Robin: Thanks.

Me: Are you alright?

Robin: Yeah I think so… Oh! I was saying you don't own me or Dami…

Damian: It's Damian, Grayson!

Robin: *cackles* or Batman, Batman Beyond, or Young Justice.

Me: *sweat drops* Uh… ok new chapter!

Remember:

Ages: Jason- 16, Richard- 13, Tim- 11, Damian- 4, Terry- 3

* * *

**Next day (after Jason's strange encounter)**

**Gotham City Mall**

Terry giggles happily as the Bat family walks into the twenty-three story mall. Damian looks around before settling down to glare angrily at the back of Dick's head while he rides on his brother's back.

"Hey Little D stop glaring I think I have two holes in my head now." Dick laughs as he swings his pouting brother around to his face. The four-year-old growls at him.

"It's not like it'll do any damage to you, Grayson. Why are we even here?" Jason smirks at the little toddler while Dick pouts. A pair of teenage girls giggles as they walk past him causing his pout to spread into a large grin.

"Aw, that hurt Little D. C'mon we both know that you want to be here."

"I…I have no idea what you're blabbering about. Now let go of me!" Dick sighs and sets the toddler on his feet.

"You shouldn't have done that." Tim mutters, annoyed.

"Why?" Just as the question leaves his lips a high pitched shriek erupts behind him. Turning around, the boys find a screaming red head flying past them with a small demonic creature attacking his head. Said creature was indeed the second youngest Wayne.

"I told you." Tim rolls his eyes.

"You have been stalking us for the last five minutes. Who are you? Who do you work with?" Damian shouts as he pulls red strands out of the teenager. The poor ginger runs around, almost comically, the other boys.

"Who am I? Who are you, you demonic monkey? Dick! Help me!" The teen cries again stopping in the center of the Bat family. "Ow! Did you just bite me?" Jason chuckles before handing a shocked Dick the youngest Wayne. Carefully Jason plucks the raging toddler off the poor soul's head and hefts him over his broad shoulder. Realizing there was no longer a demonic creature on his skull, the teen promptly passes out onto the hard, stone floor causing more people to stare at the unfortunate family. Blushing, Damian struggles, thrashing more violently before realizing who was carrying him.

"Hey Dami, you can't just attack people at random. It's not nice, no matter how funny it was." An indignant "hey" came from the overly dramatic ginger who had seemed to miraculously recover from his apparent head injury.

"That person has been suspitlously following us for a while. He posed as a threat that needed to be dealt with. Who knows who he works for!"

"Suspiciously, Damian, Suh-spish-us-lee and this idiot here isn't a threat, even if he tried." Dick says as he helps his friend off the floor while receiving a childish stuck out tongue. "He's Wally West, my best friend. Wally, meet Damian - one of my new younger brothers."

"Thelittledemonisyourbrother? …ow! You bit me! Again!" The speedster sucks his finger trying to ease the pain. "Who's the other one then?" He questions but with his finger in his mouth his inquiry sounded more like, "Whoosh zee utter won?" Tim comes over with a teary-eyed Terry who had witnessed his brother's outburst and had recently stopped laughing.

"This one is Terry. Terry, can you say 'hi' to my friend here?" Dick says softly in what his other brothers have deemed the "Terry voice." Similar to a mother trying to get her child to eat but much cooler and not as embarrassing for people associated with him. Terry waves one of his chubby arms rapidly alarming Damian who feared that it may fall off if the frequency increased.

"Hi. I'm Terry! Hello, Idiot!" He giggles while the other Waynes burst out laughing (well besides Damian who is still glaring daggers at the newcomer). Wally's face brightens before realizing what Terry had said. The group resumes walking at this point.

"Hey! I'm no idiot!" Terry giggles while pointing ahead, confusing the sixteen year old. Said teenager turns around and walks straight into a solid support pillar. Now it was Damian's turn to laugh at the poor ginger.

"Idiot. Idiot. Idiot!" Terry sings. Rolling over Dick, Terry flops backwards crossing his feet in front of Dick's neck while he hung backwards with his head near the youngest Grayson's lower back. Alarmed Damian struggles off of Jason clambering down the oldest Wayne and rushes as fast as his tiny limbs could carry him to his brother.

"Terry, stop that! You'll get blood into your head and I will not rub it like maică did…gasp!" Damian covers his mouth at his slip up causing Terry to copy while upside down. Blood filled the tiny Wayne's cheeks as he slips off his older brother's neck.

"Whoopsie!" He giggles as he falls. Dick spins around with a speed that even Wally couldn't believe and catches the falling toddler just inches about the stone floor. The other boys let out a sigh of relief as did a few onlookers. The group was silent for a moment before a loud stomach grumble burst out.

"Wally! Really?" Dick rolls his eyes at his friend who looked surprised as well.

"Hey that wasn't me this time!" Several eyebrows lift in unison.

"If it wasn't you, Wally. Then who?..." Jason begins before another rumble announces itself from below. The older boys look down to see a very red face Damian who was holding hands with a laughing Terry. "Dami… was that…"

"Yes, Todd, it was me. I think I require some… sustenance due to the hour of the day." Damian looks down still abashed.

"Sustenance? Really? Even I couldn't pronounce that til I was nine!" Wally says incredulously. Damian glares at him again causing the ginger to flinch a bit.

"Oh! Right, it's lunch time. Uh… So guys where do you want to eat? And no Wally I will not pay for yours." Wally closes his mouth and frowns as Jason and the others walk off to the food court.

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"What is this garbage?" Damian stares doubtfully at the "food" laid out before him. Terry was too busy playing with the free Batman toy to pay attention. Wally stops stuffing his face momentarily to remark but Tim swallows his food faster.

"You've never had a Happy Meal?" Damian rolls his eyes at the third son of Bruce Wayne.

"Considering how I was raised, Drake. It is highly unlikely that this stuff would even touch the sand surrounding my living quarters." Damian bites out scathingly. Wally finally swallows his mouthful, "Seriously, how were you raised? You don't sound like your age." Tim face palms while the other two Waynes groan at the thought of listening to the younger Waynes' origins.

"Well, West, if you must know…" The stoic toddler smirks evilly. "I was raised by…mmph!" Tim covers his mouth before any more information leaks out. He screams as Damian proceeds to bite him. "Do that one more time, Drake, and I swear I will end you. Anyways as I was saying…"

"Ah! Jay! Look at the time! Bruce wanted us back like ten minutes ago! We have to go now!" Dick picks up Damian who struggles in his strong arms while Jason gathers up Terry who was on the verge of collapsing from sleep.

"Right behind you, Dick. C'mon Tim!" Tim whines before packing up the rest of his lunch. By the time he looks back up his brothers had disappeared into the crowds. Tim groans in frustration and looks at Wally who was nonchalantly drinking his third milkshake.

"They do this all the time!" The ten year old gripes. "It's always about those two! Damian this or Terry that." Tim sits back down and rubs his temples. Wally stops slurping and pats the young Bat awkwardly on the shoulder.

"Do you want me to run you back to your place?" Wally offers. "I was just visiting anyways."

"No I think I'll walk. Thanks though, it was nice seeing you again."

"No problem, Timmy." He stands up with all his empty cups and wrappers. "I gotta jet. Aunt Iris will kill me if I don't get back by 2."

"It's only one Wally, eastern time. That means Central City is 12. It takes you like twenty minutes to get back to your place **with** traffic."

"Yeah well I wanted to get this new game that coming out today too." Tim rolls his eyes.

"Okay well don't hurt yourself too badly this time."

"Hey! In my defense, who would ever think of transporting zebras on a highway? Well later, Timster." With a fake salute, Kid Flash was gone and out of the mall heading back to Central City. Tim sighs and starts to walk back home. Turning on Jameson Street, he cuts across Gotham Central Park using a short cut he found one day while on patrol. It was faster but also riskier. Much more riskier. A few minutes pass before the hair on the back of his neck raise. Tim looks discreetly behind him to see a small group of men walking uncomfortably close to him. Tim shoves his hands into his pockets and begins to walk slightly faster. He accidently turns the wrong way and finds himself between trapped by the iron rod fence and stone, wall- mounted fountain.

"Look who we have here, fellas. A lost child who needs some help finding his way home." The center man remarks with a cigarette-ridden voice which caused the others to laugh in fake rasps. He grabs Tim's shoulder roughly making the boy gasp in surprise.

_I should have taken Wally's offer. _Tim looks around for an escape route but finds none since the fence in this area was higher than most and the stone fountain behind him had a canopy blocking any aerial escapes. _Great._ Tim backs into the corner even more trying to free himself, as the men close in around him. The one left of the center guy raises his arms to swing a metal pipe down when he suddenly flies forward before Tim. The other two men look behind them to see a petite girl carrying a guitar case across her back, her eyes glaring darkly at them. Her mouth forms a snarl as she notices the man's hand on Tim's shoulder. The man quickly looks down at his hand and back at her before roughly drawing his captive closer to him. He points a knife to the ten year old's head, smirking.

This action only causes the girl to deepen her snarl, but Tim sees a flash of uncertainty cross her blue eyes. The man tightens his hold around Tim's neck cutting off his airway even more.

"Now sweet heart, we don't want any harm here. So how about you just run along and forget this ever happened, hmm? What do you say to that?"

_**"You will drop him."**_ The man shakes his head as if to get rid of a bad thought before looking at the girl again. The other conscious man grabs his head while his eyes screw shut. Tim stares enchanted by her voice, almost in a stupor. He could not place a proper country that the accent had, as if all the languages were melded into one accent.

"Wha…what was that?" Tim's captor hesitates; his eyes slowly dilate as if he were under a hypnotic spell.

_**"Drop the boy."**_ The man's grip on Tim loosens. _**"Now."**_ The girl glares pointedly at the man. Tim slides down the man before scrambling back to his corner watching in awe of the petite girl. _**"Leave here and turn yourselves in. Go."**_ The two men grab their fallen friend and run to the nearest police car where a very confused officer listened to two frightened men confessing their crimes. The guitar girl looks back over to Tim to see him shaking slightly; sighing she pulls him into a hug before sitting down on the ledge of the stone fountain.

She opens her case to get her guitar while Tim rests his head on the side of her leg, content on sitting on the cobbled floor. She plucks a few chords to tune and sets a beat.

_~ I remember tears streaming down your face~  
~ When I said, "I'll never let you go"~  
~ When all those shadows almost killed your light~  
~ I remember you said, "Don't leave me here alone"~  
~ But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight~  
_

Tim notices the tremors have stopped in his hands and feeling has returned to his legs. Surprised he stares up at his savior who had an eerily familiar smile and equally memorable pair of bright, blue eyes. In his shocked state he could not connect the relationship between her facial features, but he connects the dots later on. For now he just leans back onto her leg and listens to the calming music she sung.

_~ Just close your eyes~  
~ The sun is going down~  
~ You'll be alright~  
~ No one can hurt you now~  
~ Come morning light~  
~ You and I'll be safe and sound~_

He sighs in content as she holds her final note.

"Thank you very much." Tim dips his head in gratitude before staring into her blue eyes.

No big deal. Glad to be of service. The girl smiles brightly while Tim tries to understand her muteness and the voice tickling the back of his head. Her smile wilts a bit as she looks at the lamp post that housed a Victorian style clock. 1:50, it read. Don't you have somewhere to go? She seems to ask. Tim stares wide-eyed at the time gasping at his lateness.

"Oh no! Bruce will kill me!" The ten year old grabs his head frantically and looks at his savior again.

Do you require a ride? Tim shakes his head and dashes down the park's trail, turning the correct way and up the long driveway leading to Wayne Manor. As he runs he looks back at the strange guitar girl who waves at him before performing songs for spare change, shaking his head to clear away the fog he had earlier. Her voice continues to circle his mind._ She's weird_.

Back at the manor, Tim sneaks up a tall oak tree leading to his bedroom window. Subconsciously he hums the song he just heard while opening his window. Stealthfully he slides into his room before letting out a loud sigh. He opens his door to walk into a hard solid wall. This wall was of course not only the master of the house but his father as well.

"Uh… hey dad. What's up?" He waves nervously at him. Tim could see his brothers outside looking guilt-stricken before letting out a huge sigh of relief. The Dark Knight turns around and stares them down with a deepened frown. He walks back down to his study to finish his work, leaving his sons to their own devices.

"Oh my gosh, Tim! I am so sorry that we left you behind!" Dick runs up to him scooping the boy into a massive bear hug. "When Wally called and said you were coming home by yourself I almost had a heart attack! If anything happened to you it would have been a total disaster, heavy on the dis."

"Can't breathe, Dick." Dick quickly lets go and ruffles his hair.

"What took you so long, Drake?" Damian remarks while the concern etched in the little boy's face eased away. "Lose your way?"

"Uh…" Terry senses something wrong with his older brother and walks over to give him a hug only to reach up to his knees.

"You otay now wight, Tim?" Tim hugs him back, smiling softly.

"Yeah. I'm okay now. Thanks bud."

* * *

A/N: Yay! Finished with this one! I swear these chapters are consuming my life! Any who, just want to apologize if the characters are too OC, again. I love the Bat family so much! They are too cute! Well until next time… that sounded like a cartoon… oh well. Please review!

It'll just take a few moments!

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	5. Chapter 3

Me: Wow! Another chapter! Man I've never been this productive before. Thanks for favoriting/reviewing!

KaliScarlet: We'll see how long it'll last. Favoriting isn't a word, idiot.

Me: Must you be so hurtful every time I say something?

KaliScarlet: I'm not harming anyone. I'm making observations.

Me: Pft. Lies!

Sophia: Well maybe if you picked up the pace on this thing it'll be better.

Me: Sophia! What are you doing out here? *pushes her to back room* you're not supposed to appear yet!

Sophia: I'm booored! At least let me do something while I'm out here!

Me: … Fine, you can do legal stuff for me. Then get back into your room.

Sophia: Oh hell no! Besides Kal can do it.

KaliScarlet: No. I'm out of here. *rides away on a unicorn*

Me: Good riddance! ... Wait that's my unicorn! Get back here! *fails rescue of unicorn* … *sighs* Please Soph! I'll even give you a cupcake!

Sophia: *sighs* Fine! She owns nothing!*munch munch* But I'm having this chapter!

* * *

Outskirts of Old Gotham (seven years ago)

Abandoned theater

"Next we have a small one. A real catch!" Sophia flew onto the tatty wooden floor, tucking herself into a roll to protect her head, as two strong hands pushed her roughly from behind. She turned towards the front of the stage to escape only to feel the slap of a whip strike her back. "Skilled in acrobatics," She saw the tip of black fly towards her face; her first reaction was to bend backwards. She landed on her hands as her body went into a backbend then a back handspring when black leather cracked under her feet eliciting applause from the audience. The whip continued to threaten the poor six year old who by now had tears streaming down her face. "But in need of a firm hand…" The audience chuckled, arrogantly. Unknowingly she flipped onto a thin rod resembling a Russian bar. Two men grabbed the ends and proceeded to heft the poor child into the air before wiggling it up and down shaking her loose. Her loose black hair waving madly around her as her luminous blue eyes frantically searched for help. "However, she's also exotic, a pure Romanian!" The girl was finally shaken loose from the bar and into the air; being the aerialist that she was, Sophia twists her body to see a landing spot. Her eyes began to form tunnel vision as the Russian bar came back into place, her mind too frightened to recognize that her landing position was also her starting one.

"We'll start the bidding at five hundred dollar bid. Do I have a five hundred? Now six, now six, will you give me seven?" The rhythmic chanting of the auctioneer reverberated inside the abandoned theater. The bidders sweltered in the old building raising their paddles to claim their newest "pet." Every time the price rose the poor girl was hefted into the air and repeatedly forced to fly. She never cried out loud, however. Her tears fell silently as she wished for someone, anyone, to let her stop –to save her from this. Her prayers seemed to be answered when suddenly the doors flew open behind everyone, freezing all activity inside. Unfortunately for Sophia, she was in midflight and the sudden outburst caused her to land unevenly off the bar, successfully leaving her in a tangle of limbs on the hard floor. Luckily she rose out unbroken but with a few bruises.

"This is a private auction! You cannot be here!" The auctioneer cried, but the figure that was just a black shadow against the white backdrop walked down the center aisle with two others trailing. Once the doors were closed again by unseen hands the people gasped at the newest arrival.

"Six million dollars for the girl." The heavily accented feminine voice called out to the auctioneer. "Cash." The two men behind her open their briefcases, revealing tightly wrapped stacks of new dollar bills. "I'll collect her, now." No one spoke a word as two handlers grabbed the inching escapee and dragged her towards the front of the stage. Sophia breathed a sigh of relief as she was released from her handlers, but that liberation was short lived as a pair of muscular arms throws her over their owner's shoulder. She cries out in frustration and agony.

"Nu! Nu! Eliberaţi-mă! Mami! Tati! Frate! Ajutor!"(1) She screamed at the top of her lungs. Finally realizing that screaming and crying in Romanian would not help her; she calmed herself as best as any six year old could before turning to the man and speaking forcefully into his ear. "Me. _**Down**_. Now." Her broken English seemed to affect the man as his eyes dilated before he slowly began to let her down. His boss noticed his actions and angrily barks at him in some foreign language Sophia could not understand.

"What the hell are you doing?" (2) The man shook his head once and stared confused at his boss and then at the little girl who could almost touch her feet to the carpet on the floor. "We are leaving now. Do not let this one go." She walked to the back of the theater before waiting for her men to go out; the other occupants were still staring at her in disbelief. Her henchmen quickly passed her, Sophia bouncing over the oversized shoulder. Her eyes rattled up and down before stopping in front of a small private jet. The wings of the plane almost hit her in the head. The girl panicked once again and started wriggling. "Down! Down! Down!" She urged her handler. "_**Down**_!" The burly man stops mid-step and proceeded to lower her again. This time, however, his boss witnessed the ordeal and raised one of her manicured eyebrows slightly.

"Abdul! Do not put her down." Her strong voice broke through the man's hazy mind. He immediately picked Sophia back up over his shoulder. His boss taped the girl's mouth shut. "No talking for you, my interesting pet." Sophia shrieked again before a swift jab on her neck cut her off from the conscious. The darkness enveloped her leaving her cold and stiff. She could feel her body grow two years worth. The darkness did not last long though as she saw figures come into focus. She looked around smiling in relief as she saw the familiar site of a circus tent. She was finally home again –safe again. Suddenly she heard a scream from beside her saying to look. In the back of her mind Sophia knew she should not but she did only to see the horrific scene of her parents falling as the trapeze wire snapped leaving her twin brother on top of the platform staring in shock before dropping onto his knees crying. She listened to the sickening crunch as her parents kissed the hard, dirt floor below. Just before she hit the ground, Mary Grayson looked into the crystal blue eyes of her daughter and whispered "I love you." Sophia's eyes widened releasing tears as she tried to go to her parents. The gruesome image of her mangled parents forever burned itself into her mind like her brother who had to be helped getting down from the high perch. However as she ran towards the center ring arms encompassed her small frame restraining her.

"Mami! Tati!" She screams alerting the ring master of her presence.

"Sophia!" The ring master ran towards his missing performer only to be stopped by a wall of men. "Who are you? Let me through! Sophia!" The old ring master tried to ram himself against the human barricade but was unsuccessful as the grief-stricken girl was forcibly pushed towards the exit. Her screams of anger, grief, and frustration were ceased when a clothe gag wrapped around her face. "Sophia!" The police sirens covered the ring master's cries as he stared at the crying girl. A woman stepped in front of the man wall. Her regal posture demanded attention which the ring master gave.

"Mr. Haley, Stop your ridiculous shouting. This girl belongs to me." She turned away towards the awaiting helicopter where Sophia sat, restrained and exhausted. "Let's move." The helicopter shot off and the man wall dispersed with each man melting into the shadows. Mr. Haley failed to catch up to the helicopter by half a second. He slumped to the grassy ground while holding the frightened gaze of Sophia Grayson as she fades away into the night sky. Sophia could see another performer run out to the fallen ring master before both returned back inside to help her brother, Richard Grayson.

The flight back to headquarters was long and heavy with tension. The lady looked at her "pet" with disgust. "It seems that we will need to retrain you." Her tone hinted no indication of what her retraining would entail but the eight year old could feel in her gut it would be worse than ever before. The night painted her world black as she stared out of her window over a desert. Confused she looked back at her "master" who just sat in front drilling holes into her forehead.

This is not the way to HQ. Her eyes said. Her master had realized the girl's "gift" and found use for it on their missions; however, she could not risk the girl's escape so she forced Sophia to learn a different type of communication. The choker around the girl's neck enforced this communication.

"We are going to your retraining location. The Lazarus Pit." Sophia's eyes widened to saucer size before fear graced her face. "Next time you will be wise to not disobey." Sophia steeled herself as the helicopter landed next to a mountain. She was pushed into a black entrance as torches were lit from behind her. Her mind quickly ran through all the information she had collected about the infamous pit. Her torturous accelerated learning with her "master" allowed her to gain an eidetic memory meaning she had retained all the information ever written by her "master's" father about the Lazarus Pit. Ra's Al Ghul was god on this subject, though this information was considered classified and mythological. Sophia found it on one of her many escape attempts from her hell.

"_The subject will experience every sensation leading to his death once he has emerged from the pit. The subject may not necessarily see his death but his pain will be renewed. If the subject does not have a firm grasp of himself, he will lose his mind entirely. The subject must create an almost separate identity to replace himself with since his old self will have been obliterated, unless subject created a special soul catcher. This soul catcher can only be made from mystic topaz dipped in water from Cape Grim in Tasmania and dried over Greek fire. Before entering Lazarus Pit subject must bury the soul catcher within six feet of Pit, depth of hole is not important…"_

Sophia had no more time for thoughts as she saw the glowing green walls come into view. She "tripped" over the stone ground covertly burying her soul catcher into a sliver of dirt. She was pulled up sharply by Talia Al Ghul, her master, who eyed her with a glint in her eye, a murderous glint.

Please, Talia! Master! Please do not do this! Her eyes scream since her mouth could not. Talia disregarded her plea as she whipped out her favorite weapon her modified throwing knives. These were high tempered carbon steel laced with LD-50. A scratch from this would cause major internal bleeding within minutes of contact. Talia stabbed her with six before pushing her into the boiling neon liquid. Sophia could not scream nor could she attack as her body ceased functions while her fire filled veins burst simultaneously. The pain from a point-blank nuclear explosion could not touch the levels the tiny body felt as she slowly died. Only after her last heartbeat pounded did the boiling liquid gather around her and peace finally found her. Her peace was ripped away again when the pain returned and her soul was forced back into her body. Pain made her lose all her senses as she was fished out but pain.

When she finally regained her senses she saw Talia standing with her knives in her hands.

"Ready for round two?" The knives flew out from her graceful hands spiraling towards Sophia once more.

* * *

At the sound of heavy thunder, Sophia slams her body against the wall looking frantically around her. Lightning illuminates the dirty alley before her. She was in a cardboard box with her watertight guitar case resting next to her. She shudders violently bringing her knees to her chest before breaking down loudly as the thunder and rain hides her sobs; her cardboard box begins to split open as the Gotham rain becomes too much for it, drenching the girl unknown to the protectors of Gotham who had just retired for the night.

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A/N: Okay so I know it's shorter than the others and I'm soo sorry this update took so long! It just didn't click with me! But here it is! Though it might change to a better one if I can! Please don't hurt me!

Translations

1. No! No! Release me! Mommy! Daddy! Brother! Help!

2. It's Arabic if you're wondering. I can't find Romanized Arabic that's good anywhere!

3. It's real! So be afraid, very afraid. Effects may or may not be accurate though

You can do it!

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Pretty please with a sugar on top!

It's just a button. No harm no foul. :3 Pwease?


	6. Chapter 4

Me: AHH! I am so sorry this update has taken forever! I had such a writer's block, already!

KaliScarlet: I told you so.

Me: It's not like you were helping either! I know the last chapter was crappy too! I feel horrible! And… and…and…

Kaldur: Miss, I highly advise you to calm yourself.

Me: Kaldur'Ahm! *Glomp* Hi! What are you doing up here? Weren't you in Atlantis?

Kaldur: I was but Robin called saying he needed my assistance. Please release me, miss.

Sophia: She's not going to let go anytime soon. You okay?

Kaldur: *standing very awkwardly with me on his back* I… require some aide.

Sophia: Yeah, I got it. *Grabs my collar* Heave….Ho! *Flings me * New record!

Me: Noooo! ~

Kaldur: Thank you…Who are you?

Sophia: You'll see. The idiot over the rainbow doesn't own anything DC Comics related.

* * *

Five days ago

Mount Justice

"Recognize Artemis B07." The zeta tube computer announced. As Artemis stepped out of the tube a blur of red flew past her successfully knocking her off her feet.

"What the hell, Baywatch?" She yells after him only to get a little scream from the hallway he had just entered. An eerie laugh resonated after giving Artemis an indication of the situation. _Baywatch did something stupid, again. _Artemis rolled her eyes and went to the living room where she found Connor staring at the static screen **(A/N: I like the blue screen better :D)**, M'gann baking something, and Kaldur reading another novel. She walks over to M'gann while grabbing an apple.

"Hey, Meg, what did Kid Idiot do to the little bird?"

"Hi Artemis! Oh, I don't really know. Wally stole some of Robin's Lucky Charms, and well, you saw what happened."

"So all that screaming for a box of Lucky Charms? They are such idiots." Artemis groaned.

* * *

"Dude, so not fair!" Wally cried as he wiggled upside down glaring at his best friend.

"I told ye to stay away from me lucky charms, boy-o!" The thirteen year old chirped in a mock Irish accent.

"I said I was sorry already didn't I?"

"So?"

"Dude!" The speedster whined before grumbling incoherently.

"What?" The two stared at each other before Wally grew a little pale.

"Can you let me down now? I'm getting light headed." The boy wonder rolled his eyes before cutting the line, his friend falling ungracefully into a heap. "Ow! What is it with you and your cereal?"

"I like my cereal." Robin huffed.

"Oh-kay then. You doing anything Thursday?"

"Uh… Well…" Robin looked at the floor quickly.

"Oh right…" Wally rubbed the back of his neck. "It's that day. I'm sorry. I forgot."

"It's alright." He sighed. "At least I know **she's** out there now."

"Have you gotten anything about her yet?"

"No." He continued to find the floor very interesting. "It's almost like she doesn't exist. There's no record of her anywhere after she disappeared. I don't even know what she looks like!"

"Uh… Rob…"

"What?"

"She's your **twin** sister.** Identical** twin sister."

"I know that. But how does that help an…y? Oh duh!" Wally face palmed at his friend's thick head.

"Yes so just dress up like a girl and take a picture. It'll be like looking at her in person." he snickered. "By the way, how's little T?"

"He's fine, just started pre-school. Dami says hi too." The sixteen year old blanched.

"I'm sure he did that little demon spawn."

"He is Batman's biological son."

"… How…" The boys were interrupted by Batman's voice.

"Team, meet up. You have a mission."

* * *

S.T.A.R Labs, Chemical research branch

San Diego, California

"**_Is everyone linked up_****_?_**" M'gann opened the mind link between her team mates.

"**_Wall-man is in the house._****_"_**

"**_Artemis_****_._**"

"**_Kaldur_**."

"**_Conner_**."

"**_…_**" Silence answered for their youngest member.

"**_Robin?_**" The teenagers listened as the boy wonder laughed his way in the shadows.

"**_I'm here and in position_**." The older teens looked over to the main entrance where Robin had already gone ahead to start hacking into the lab's security system. "**_Security has been by-passed. Let's move_****_._**" The team rushed into the building.

"**_Let us split up to cover the floors more quickly_**." Kaldur commanded. "**_Robin, take the basement and gather any information from their computers. Wally, take second and third. Artemis, take fourth and fifth. M'gann will take the sixth and I will search the top floor. This mission is only for gathering information. Do not take anything_**."

"**_We'll meet at the rendezvous point in two hours_****_._**" Robin injected once they began to head towards their designated floors. Unbeknownst to the teenaged super team, a shadow lingered above them watching as they went up before disappearing to the third floor. The shadow moved against the wall silently before coming to a seemingly solid wall. Tapping on it lightly the caped figure pushed the edges inwards to open a hidden door. Just as the door closed again Kid Flash passes it without a second glance back.

"**_Second and Third floors don't have anything. KF out_****_._**"

"**_Check again, Wally. Knowing you, you probably missed a hidden door or something_****_._**" Robin snickered.

"**_What? There's no way…_**" Wally turned to see the wall close on itself and a hint of black flutter out of sight. "**_Guys, I don't think we're alone_****_._**"

* * *

A/N: Mwahaha first Cliffy! :3 Ah ok so super short chappie like not even fun sized short but I have no idea what to write! Gah! I'm such a horrible person! :'( Don't hurt me! I'll update once I can figure out what exactly I am writing about which should be soon but not right now. Sorry! DX


	7. Chapter 4 part2

Me: More reviews! I feel so loved! Okay so I finally figured out where I'm going.

KaliScarlet: Wow, it took you sixteen years to finally figure it out?

Me: I meant with the story

KaliScarlet: Oh? Even more impressive, it took you two whole days and several hours of sleep deprivation.

Me: Oh yeah? Well you're…mean.

KaliScarlet: *rolls eyes* Just do the legalities and finish the damn chapter.

Me: Hey you can't cuss! If mom finds out…

KaliScarlet: Mom's not here, dumbass. Now stop stalling.

Me: Stop being mean to me! I don't own DC Comics as much as I want to.

* * *

S.T.A.R Labs, chemical research branch

San Diego, California

"**_Third floor, south wing, movement detected. Going after suspect_**."

"**_Wally, no! This is a covert mission. We cannot risk compromise_****_._**" The team leader cautioned the antsy speedster.

"**_But Kaldur, what if it's important_****_?_**" Wally whined through the mental link.

**_"... Proceed with caution_****_._**"

"**_Aye-aye captain_****_._**"Wally raced after the darkened figure only to find himself facing a dead end. "Dammit!" "**_I've lost visual_****_,_**" he looked at the open air vent, "**_But Artemis, I think the suspect is head up to your floor_**."

"**_Roger that_****_._**" Artemis readied her bow, pointing it in front much like a soldier with a rifle, while the glass railing lightly reflecting her. As she walked down the corridor overlooking the lobby, she passed two columns side by side when two arms grabbed her into the shadows. Artemis jumped back as she aimed her arrow at a dark, hooded figure.

"**_That's not the first time Luna's been pointed my way_**." A hypnotic haze filled the archer's mind before she recognized the owner's voice, and slowly the haze dissipated leaving a very surprised Artemis in its wake.

"Phi? What are you…mmph!" Two petite hands clasped over the blonde's mouth as the figure revealed her face. Cerulean eyes met icy gray as the former lowered them to the floor. Phi was hidden by the pillars but Artemis's hair stuck out sorely.

Your father and sister are here. Grab your team and leave! The archer's eyes widened at the mention of her villainous family.

I…I can't. We have to gather information… New suit, I see? Very nice. Artemis responded with the same type of eye communication. Her friend rolled her blue eyes before giving her a pleading gaze.

I've got that covered. Just go! Please!

How do you know what we…

"Hello, what do we have here?" The two friends stiffened before Phi jumped off the glass railing to the floor above. Artemis turned to the sound of an extremely memorable voice, her father.

"Sportsmaster." She breathed out harshly.

* * *

Top Floor

Aqualad

Kaldur riffled through various filling cabinets before sensing another presence. He whipped around, battle weapons ready. The aquatic teen did not expect to see a petite girl waiting for him and observed her with suspicion. She wore a purple morph suit, with an oval cut out of the face mask to reveal her eyes; a long hooded blackish purple cape that just reached her ankles, and two overlapping utility belts. In the dim lighting the teenage boy could barely see a faint tattoo on the bottom corner of the girl's left eye; he noted the platform boots and drew the conclusion that the girl was actually shorter, almost as tall as Robin. He felt his eyes move back up to the girl's eyes, a magnetic pull drawing him towards the azure orbs. At the back of his mind, a voice echoed enveloping him in a haze.

Your mission has been compromised. Leave immediately.

"Who are you?" The girl looked at him before glancing at the door behind her; she could hear light padding coming towards them.

No time. Here, she threw a manila envelope at the tan boy. Take what you came for. The footsteps were drawing nearer. You must leave now. She pushed Kaldur into a supply closet just as Cheshire walked in scanning the empty room. The masked girl roamed her eyes once over the small office before going into the next room, opposite of the two other teens. The two looked at each other with a uniform sigh of relief and exited the room.

"**_Gather your team and leave now_**." The mysterious girl spoke for the first time since their encounter, and Kaldur could not help but follow her instructions.

"**_Team, we have company. We must fall back. I found the information. M'gann, call the bioship_****_._**" The team responded, however, Artemis was a little delayed.

"**_Uh…I have to check this one last room. I think there was a sample of whatever that chemical was. I'll be out in two_****_,_**"

"**_Be careful, Artemis_****_._**" M'gann thought; worry laced her voice.

* * *

Fourth Floor

Artemis

Artemis grunted as her back hit the concrete column behind her. Her father held her up as he stared into her uncovered face, the mask lying just beneath her dangling feet.

"Oh, Artemis, I'm hurt." He said mockingly. "No daddy this time?" The archer spat into his face receiving a slap across her face.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She growled ignoring the biting sting coming off her cheek.

"I could ask you the very same, daughter." The tall, sadistic man pulled back a muscular arm ready to punch his daughter's gut when a shadow flew from over the glass railing and directly into the villain's head, successfully giving Artemis the necessary seconds to grab her stuff and run down the halls after her friend. Once outside the building, the girls hid behind a row of tall shrubs. Artemis broke the silence first, squealing at inhumanly high pitches that even Superboy could not hear. Just before Artemis could wrap her arms around the smaller girl, a gloved hand rose in front of her.

I have to leave. Artemis frowned with disappointment etched across her face.

"Why?"

I… I'm not ready to face him yet.

"Not ready to face him? He's your brother! If I have to drag you to my school with a bulldozer I will. It's been what five years?"

Seven.

"Even more of a reason to see him. He's pretty cool kid once you get past his nerdiness."

Says the girl who obsesses over Asian knick knacks.

"Hey! I'm proud of my heritage that's all." The younger girl stared at her with an are-you-frikin-kidding-me look. Artemis huffed indignantly at her friend. "You're lucky, you're my best friend. Anyone else would have an arrow up their a…"

"Hey Arty! Who you talkin' to?" Kid Flash raced over to her hiding spot. Artemis gulped nervously and looked back to see that her friend had once again disappeared leaving two white envelopes in her place. Picking them up the archer noticed that one was addressed to Kid Flash.

"Uh…no one. Hey I found this on the ground. It's addressed to you." She handed him his letter. "Well are you going to take it?" Wally glanced at the paper quizzically before grabbing it.

"I'll read it later. Check out my souvenir!" He placed the letter into his arm compartment and pulled out a chipped glass beaker. "Found it in one of the labs."

* * *

Top floor

Aqualad (minutes after the girl left)

Kaldur looked back to the spot the girl was earlier only to find no one but dark shadows. Confused he walked out into another hall before looking down at the envelope. He saw a note written on the back under the seal.

"May the spoils of war be worth your precious lives. – Spoiler." Curious, Aqualad opened the seal to find packets of undercover dealings with S.T.A.R Labs and Lex Corp. along with a flash drive. The teen scratched his head as he went out to the rendezvous point where the others were waiting.

* * *

A/N: Okay! I know that the Spoiler character is Stephanie Brown but it fit this role so well that I had to use it! Sorry to any Stephanie fans but she won't be in this! So this one is finished! I'm sorry about the other chapter. My head was not on correctly.

KaliScarlet: It never was to begin with.

A/N: Hush up. Also I want to say thanks to anyone and everyone who review/favorite/ or whatever this story!

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I know you can do it! I really need feed back to know if this story is going okay! X3 Thanks a bunch!


	8. Chapter 5

Me: Woot! Update!

Damian: You are too excited, stop it.

Me:*cries* Dami why are you so mean? I already have to deal with Kal. *Terry crawls over*

Damian: My name is Damian, you imbecile! Not some pitiful pet name.

Me:*Grabs Terry into a hug* Why can't you be like Terry?

Damian: Tt.

Terry: He was born dat way, but Maică and I wuv him anyways. *Terry glomps his brother*

Me: Daw! So cute! It's so sad but I don't own you guys or anyone else in DC Comics.

Damian: You would be the worst owner anyways.

Me:*wails* Why? Kal, your evilness has infected these innocent children! *Maniacal laughter in background*

* * *

Mount Justice (after mission)

Debriefing room

The group of teens huddled around the mysterious manila envelope innocently laying on raised platform. Robin had quickly swiped the flash drive for any viruses, only to come up clean. Wally looked around at his teammates practically vibrating with anticipation, or from a sugar high. Both being the more probable answer.

"Well are we going to open it or not?" He said while shoving yet another candy bar into his mouth.

"We have to wait for Batman. He said not to touch anything except for the flash drive to sweep for viruses." Kaldur reminded the team glaring particularly at Kid Flash who was about peel away the seal. They had alerted Batman as soon as they had gotten on Miss Martian's bioship about Kaldur's strange encounter with the mysterious girl. Batman instructed his protégé to check the USB but not to touch anything else before he arrived.

"But…" Wally's whine was stopped in mid pitch when the Zeta-tube glowed.

"Recognize Batman 02." The electronic voice announced. Everyone except Robin silently stepped back as the Dark Knight walked up to the table. He glanced at Wally who looked sheepishly away to Robin, silently asking how the caped crusader knew his previous action. His only answer was a short snort that implied he was just that predictable. While the two friends exchanged glances, the detective worked on prying the envelope open with extreme caution. After accepting the fact that nothing would come out and attack anyone, Batman retrieved the papers from their confines. He spied a familiar penmanship on a stark white slip of paper attached to the front of the stack of papers.

"To Batman,

From my assumptions you have ordered the young team to leave my packet of information, untouched.

Also you may be wondering who I am or how I knew about this 'covert' team for the Justice League. Let's just

I'm an old friend and be done with that. This information is vital to a certain organization called The Light. I know

this because I have certain sources. By now you have probably asked Robin or whoever your technical member

is to try and trace the finger prints I purposefully left on the envelope. If you value your identity, which I'm sure you do or Robin's for this manner, then you would be best advised to stop the search immediately…"

"Robin, terminate the search now." The boy wonder glanced up at his mentor; even with his domino mask on, the others could see the confusion on his face. They looked back at the older vigilante. "This has now become a Justice League matter. Hit the showers. Robin when you're finished I need to talk to you in private." The caped man walked away to find Red Tornado. The teenagers gave each other shrugs before walking off to their locker rooms.

"Race ya there." Wally grinned at the youngest member who scoffed before throwing a bird-lasso behind him successfully wrapping around the speedster's feet and tripping him. "Dude! So not fair!" The bouncing bird cackled as his friend grabbed at his ankles trying to untangle himself. Conner and Kaldur rolled their eyes at the two younger teens' antics.

* * *

Boys' Locker room

Robin had already undressed and walked under the steaming jet as Wally entered. The two boys quickly went through their bathroom routines and exited to change back into their civvies. Kaldur and Superboy went in after the other two had left. Wally already had his shorts and shirt on when he remembers his letter that Artemis had found for him. He sat his stuff next to him on the wooden bench as he ruffled around his suit for the letter. Robin hopped over forgetting his shirt for a moment to look over his friend's shoulder.

"What's that?"

"Dunno, Arty gave it to me, said she found it on the ground outside the lab." Robin leaned over onto the ginger's back to get a better look.

"Well are you going to open it?"

"Huh? Oh yeah." The red-headed speedster quickly ripped open the small envelope and pulled out a small card with slightly girly handwriting. "Whoa, this is weird." He handed the hacker the card.

Robin's smile rivaled the Joker's in size as he read the card. "I think we found our lead, Wally!" The young acrobat flipped backwards to his locker to put his shirt on. "I have to go talk to Batman." He cried behind him as he raced down the hall almost colliding with Artemis who was drying her long hair. A similar card floated to the floor before the archer who quickly snatched it before the excited bird could see it.

"Did you get into Baywatch's sugar stash again?" She joked only to realize the boy had already disappeared to find his mentor.

* * *

"Batman, Batman, Batman!" The Dark Knight could hear his young protégé call as he reread the signature of his letter.

A circle with a line through the center was all that was written after the rather vague and convoluted letter. _Phi, the mathematical symbol that sometimes replaced the symbol theta for angles_. The masked man frowned at the signature. It irked him because the name popped up so many times in the past three years that he knew he had to find out who this "Phi" person was. His first instinct told him it was all related to the girl he met that fateful night three years ago out in Russia. His thoughts were broken when he looked up to see his son hanging upside down on one of the many low support beams spread out in the mountain.

"Yes, Robin? What is it?" The grin on his son's face signified something that was either important or entertaining.

"I have a lead to **her**."

* * *

A/N: woo finished! Yea the locker room part really sucked I know but I've never written a scene for it before... Hah you though the Bat family would be in this chapter didn't you! Mwahaha! Anyways I probably won't update this until after Sunday since I have the ACT to go to. Curses to all standardized tests! Thanks for reading! Until next time

KaliScarlet: You sound like a damn Looney Tunes show.

Me: Shut up! Please review!

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Think of it as your one good deed for the day! ^^


	9. Chapter 6

Me: Finally! Summer vacation can finally start! I'm done with stupid standardized tests! *Tears of joy*

Kali: Congratulations. No one really missed you.

Me: I just can't get a break from you can I?

Kali: Is that a rhetorical question?

Me: I refuse to answer that.

Kali: Ah, but you just did, my dear.

Me: Blast you and your reverse psychology! Thank you all for waiting patiently!

Kali: No one's out there.

Me: *incoherent muffled screaming* Oh BTW I'm making Barbra Gordon 15 and Zatanna 13. Batgirl will most likely not be in this story! I don't own anything! Sorry!

* * *

Gotham City (four days ago)

Sprang Boulevard 302, Gotham Heights (3:16 A.M.)

The Gotham night was ominous, as always, but eerily silent, allowing the residents to have a peaceful rest. The protectors of the infamous city had already locked up the last of the insane villains and turned in for the night. In her apartment complex, Artemis tossed and turned in her slumber after returning from the mountain. A shadow glided down onto the fire escape casting its figure into the moonlit room. The change in light alerted the already fitful teenager and had her up pointing her crossbow to the window over the second bed, her sister's old one. Slowly slender fingers pushed their way under the unlocked window. Artemis mentally kicked herself for forgetting to lock both windows before she went to bed as she jumped onto the dresser between the two windows waiting for the intruder to make his appearance. Silently the window opened wide enough for a head to stick in. Artemis pressed her weapon to the intruder's temple.

"Give me one reason to not put an arrow through your brains." Artemis's scratchy voice hissed lowly so that it wouldn't wake her mother. The interloper turned her head and Artemis almost yelped in surprise before grabbing the head's owner through the window onto the bed below. "You can't just knock like a normal person, can you?" A pair of mischievous blue stared back at her.

Where would the fun be then? Besides I was seeing if you lost your touch or not. I think you need to brush up on your skills; your sensitivity has slowed. The younger girl smirked at her friend while readjusting her clothes. I was on your fire escape for a good five minutes before I made myself present. Artemis glared at the mute ravenette before she shook her head in disbelief.

That is so not true. I just felt like leaving you out there. Artemis heard a small snicker come from her friend. Besides I have school tomor… She looked at her alarm clock. Today, it's Monday. Why have you decided to visit on the worst day of the week? The mute could hear the annoyance drip off her friend's tone as they held their silent talk.

I was in the neighborhood. She replied nonchalantly. Can't I say hey to my best friend forever and always?

Yes but on a Monday? Why? Couldn't it be like a Wednesday or better yet a Friday? Artemis rubbed her eyes trying to keep them awake. "And Phi, I have a huge Algebra two exam today. I mean I love you and all but really?" Artemis yawned out loud since her eyes were shut. The blonde looked over to her friend who looked ready fall asleep as well; she sighed while tucking the smaller teen into bed before she jumped into her bed once more to catch up on the last bit of sleep before her torture began.

_Beep. Beep. Beep_. Artemis's alarm screeched before a fist struck down on it silencing it for a few more minutes. Four minutes later. _Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep!_ By now a second fist decided to destroy the infernal contraption altogether jolting the blonde archer out of her slumber. Alarmed (A/N: haha punny) she bounced out of her bed and once again pointed her crossbow at the small lump on her sister's bed before remembering the encounter a few hours before.

"You owe me a new alarm." A giggle rose from under the covers. "Oh, you think that's funny? Well what about this?" Artemis pulled the covers off her friend (after putting away her crossbow, of course) revealing a mass of black hair to erupt off the thirteen year old's head. She had taken off her outer clothes before sleeping so her outfit only had a small, stained camisole and shorts. The younger girl pulled back on the covers to turn and sleep some more but a light reflected off of her back catching Artemis's attention. "What's that, Phi?" Phi's only reply was to bury herself more under the wonderful covers after nights of living on the streets. "Phi, what's on your back?" This time the youngest Crock family member yanked the covers off to reveal her friend lying flat on her back with a stubborn face set. Artemis jumped onto the girl and rolled her over after much fussing to see, with a gasp, a metal structure attached to the young girl's upper back. It spanned over her shoulder blades just wrapping around the joint where her arms attached to her shoulder and down to her mid back. It was wrapped around the base of her neck in a strange chocker fashion and looked like a bird spreading its wings across her back with several intricate patterns overlaying it. Phi rolled back over with a sad, resolved look in her eyes.

It's why I can't speak and why I really can't see my brother.

"What is going on here?" The two girls swiveled their heads to the door where Paula Crock sat with a this-should-be-interesting look plastered on her face.

"Oh hi mom." Artemis waved. "You remember Sophia Grayson, right?" The former villainess gasped and looked at the blushing ravenette.

Hey Paula, how's it going? Nice to see you again.

* * *

Gotham Academy

Lunch period

"Hey look what I have here, guys," Dick chose to ignore the oncoming slew of insults. "it's the circus freak. Hey circus freak! Did you know you're not worth shit? Your guardian doesn't want to see you since he's always away on 'business.' We all know what he's doing in his spare time, heh. Didn't he say he found his biological sons? Not long before you're gone, circus freak, since you are only just adopted. Even your parents left you. " Before Dick could say anything the boys were sprawled on the ground gasping for air. Dick wiped away a few stray tears before looking up to see his older brother and Artemis in symmetrical fighting stances. Barbra quickly gathered Dick in his arms and let him silently cry into her shoulder before Artemis came up next to him and soothed his hair.

As the trio came out of their group hug Dick was immediately picked up into a massive bear hug by his brother. The group of bullies behind them ran off with bloody faces and wet trousers.

"Do they do this often?" Jason looked into his brother's teary eyes; a flash of identical though feminine eyes passed through his mind before clearing away to see his brother. A stiff nod was all that came from the younger bird. Jason bristled at the thought of his brother being bullied without his knowledge making him feel even worse as an older brother but focused on the younger teen before him. "Come on Dickie-bird I'll buy you ice cream. Don't tell Alfred though, m'kay?" The quartet laughed lightly and headed to the cafeteria.

"So I told her that the range for the inverse of sine cannot exceed negative pi over two and positive pi over two. She got mad at me and refused to teach the rest of the lesson saying that if I knew that much then I could just teach the rest of class and gave us four packets to do. They're due tomorrow, completed and correct. Which is why those guys were angry at me." Dick gulped for air after his explanation. The older teens glanced at each other in worry before Dick gagged on his ice cream.

"Oh shit, Dickie! Don't eat so fast! You're not Wally. Too much sugar at once only makes you sick." Jason shoved a bottle of water in front of the green teenager.

"But it tastes good…" Jason sighed at his brother.

"Not if you're gonna hurl it back up." He retorted. The bell rang through the bustling cafeteria indicating the start of third period (A/N: I don't know what type of schedule they use. So I'm just going to use block scheduling.). "Dammit I have two minutes to get down to the Mechanics building, see ya guys." Jason bolted out of the room, hastily throwing his trash into the bins. Artemis and Barbra stared after him before looking back at the already packed Richard.

"Well I'll see you guys after school then. I'm off to world history." The younger of the trio grinned obviously trying to show the older girls that he was alright.

"Oh ok Dick. We have to go to Chemistry anyways." Barbra waved good bye as the two girls walked off leaving Dick to walk off by himself towards the history wing. Jason slouched into his chair as his teacher discussed the differences in cylinder positions. Living with the Batman gave Jason the advantage of knowing the concepts of automotives. This class was a breeze for him and he only had it since his other classes were all Advanced Placement courses. Basically this was his slacker period, giving him plenty of time to think about things going on in his life. He replayed last night's patrol and how he thought he saw someone or something run over the central bank towards Gotham Heights but ignored it because the thing was gone a second after he saw it. His thoughts wandered to the confrontation he had earlier with his little brother's bullies. _How could I let this happen? I'm his older brother for God's sake! He said this has gone on often. Man I feel horrible!_

"Mr. Wayne." The teacher's voice interrupted his internal monologue.

"Yes Mr. D?"

"Please explain the difference between an inline engine and a v engine."

"Uh… Sure… A v engine is more cubical and makes things slightly heavier while an inline engine is for narrower cars and need only half as many camshafts but it's sometimes harder to cool."

"Very good Mr. Wayne. Now the spark plugs are…" The teacher droned on once again leaving the oldest of the Waynes to his thoughts.

* * *

Gotham Heights

Sprang Boulevard 302

Paula Crock wheeled around the apartment while all too aware of the currently homeless teenager watching television in her living room. She remembered when she first met the child. She was still known to the world as Huntress committing crimes with her husband while her eldest daughter watched over Artemis. The League of Shadows and their current employer wanted to work together in a plan to delay the peace treaty between the world countries. Their mission was to infiltrate the negotiations and kill everyone in sight. Her husband and David Cain had taken to killing the Columbian representatives while she teamed up with Talia al Ghul who had brought along a girl who couldn't be older than Artemis, who was eight and a half (as she always reminded everyone) at the time. She was shocked when the little girl slashed the necks of four Swiss bodyguards while Talia took out the Swiss representative. The girl's face was completely void of emotion as blood spurted onto her uniform. She had blood covering her black Kevlar vest-like shirt and arms. Her mouth and nose had a fitted mask over them leaving only her blank, dull blue eyes showing. The mission however had been unsuccessful when the Justice League arrived. Apparently one of the hiding diplomats had alerted the League. Everyone quickly abandoned the mission after losing four member of the villainous group.

Paula escaped with Talia and the girl to her employer's headquarters which was the emergency rendezvous point. She watched the duo interact on the helicopter ride back. Talia was pointing out certain mistakes the girl made during her kills while the girl, herself, did not speak instead she seemed to speak with only her eyes and body language which was submissive and slightly fearful. Paula remembered being impressed by the mute girl and did not recall any mistakes Talia was pointing out, but she kept those comments to herself. Later on her employer joined the League of Shadows which in turn made her husband and her temporary members as well. They moved away from Gotham for a while, living with the League. Her daughters were put through harsh training alongside the mute girl. Artemis had taken great interest in the younger girl and eventually learned how to communicate with her. The girl began to smile more and eventually revealed her secret as a fake mute. Only when she was with the Crock family did the girl speak out loud. At first it was Artemis who encouraged her friend to speak out loud saying she had a pretty voice. Then once Paula built an immunity to the little girl's hypnotic powers she also urged the girl to speak, even her older daughter Jade accepted the little girl into the family. Jade and she also learned the girl's special language. Her husband, however, was never around so he never actually met the girl in person, just how his daughters told about her.

The family had moved out two years later after Sportsmaster found another job back in the States, leaving their honorary daughter alone. Artemis had cried and begged not to leave her best friend and sister behind, but her father had none of it. The day they left for the plane, Paula remembered the girl cry for the first time since she met her. Never had she cried during the harsh, almost torturous, training sessions she had with Talia or the punishments she received when she made a mistake during a mission, but when the girl waved her final good-byes clear droplets slid down her sun-kissed skin. Artemis promised to find her or contact her in some way. The former villainess recollected the scene she saw after the family boarded the private jet. Phi – the girl had told them her identity a few months before their departure – had tried to tell them something but quickly screamed out loud instead, crumpling in what appeared to be immense pain. She saw Talia smack her across the face with so much force that the young eight year old flew across the sweltering runway before being dragged back into headquarters by just her collar.

The last Paula heard of the girl, she was working as an apprentice for a man named Slade Wilson or as his alias was Deathstroke. Phi, or Sophia as Paula called her, had taken up a new alias as well, becoming Black Diamond after her alias as Black Cardinal when she was with Talia. She and another child named Red X worked up in the ranks of villain status, gaining the title as best thieves of the decade. Phi was only ten then. She still stayed with Talia but would work under Slade on missions to improve her skills. After that the Huntress was arrested for attempted theft of the King's Ruby, a priceless ruby found at the bottom of the ocean that oceanographers discovered while mapping the Pacific Ocean's seafloor. She was only captured because her safety hook broke as she tried to cross the tops of the buildings resulting in her paralysis as well. After that she quit the whole villain gig altogether only concentrating on being a house maker while her husband "worked" and trained the girls.

A small touch on her shoulder jolted the former villainess out of her reverie. Looking up she saw the familiar pull whenever she stared into the young girl's eyes. Instead of the blank, dull expression she had first seen grace the girl's face a look of new-found resolve and motivation that could only be seen in a new, protective mother was placed on her. Paula gasped at the thought of the girl having children at such an early age, but she could not deny the possibility with her living situation. The girl obviously knew what was on the mother's mind when she looked into her dark brown eyes.

Do not worry, Paula. I do not have any biological offspring running around. Don't plan to anytime soon either. I was just wondering if you wanted me to help you with anything. I mean you've already given me a meal, hot shower, and a bed to sleep in. I have to repay you somehow. The middle-aged woman just smiled gently at the girl before resting her hand on top of Phi's.

"No it's alright my dear. You're welcome here anytime and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. It's great to see you again." Paula wheeled around to face the thirteen year old and paused remembering something. "No biological offspring, hmm? Does that mean there are other types?" Phi nodded happily.

I have children who I've adopted as my own since their mother does not care much for them. I do not want them to grow up being like her. Paula just stared in disbelief at the girl, the mother.

"Children? As in plural?" Another nod met the Asian woman. "How many? Whose would they be?"

I have two. One's four and the other is three. They are Talia's. 

"Where are they? They're not in some box waiting for you now, are they Sophia?" The wheel chaired woman asked critically. Phi's facial expression was one of mock horror.

Paula, do you really think I'd leave two children on their own in the streets of Gotham? No they're in a much better place. They're with their father. And no I cannot tell you who he is either. Sorry. Paula dipped her head in understanding.

A few moments later, "Mom, I'm home." Artemis walked into the living room where she saw Phi sitting on the back of the couch next to her mom. "Phi! You're still here!" Artemis rushed over to her and gave her a hug as if she was making sure she was truly there.

Well duh. I like your uniform. Artemis glared half heartedly at her friend's obvious sarcasm before sighing in agreement.

"I know! It makes me feel naked, and not in the good way."

"Artemis!" Paula smacked her on the arm for the blatant innuendo. Artemis blushed as Sophia giggled.

"Sorry mom." She walked off to her room.

"What am I going to do with this child?" Paula sighed towards Phi who giggled some more before following her friend. "Will you stay for dinner, Sophia?" Sophia's head stuck out sideways in the door frame before nodding reverently making the Asian woman laugh.

When Sophia reached Artemis's room she saw papers scattered across the floor surrounding her best friend in a doughnut shape.

"I'm sorting my research paper for English." Artemis answered Sophia's unasked question. "It's due tomorrow and I just need to organize it. What were you talking about with my mom?" Artemis placed her pile of papers into a folder before turning her attention to the other girl sitting on the bed.

Nothing much catching up. She was probably remembering the first time she met me and then we talked about how I have adopted children. Then you came in. Other than that I took a shower and had a meal…

"Whoa, wait, you have children? Since when?" The archer almost shrieked in her friend's ear as she sat next to her.

Yes I have two adopted sons but they're with their biological father who can better provide for them than I could ever do in my lifetime. And about …three years now?

"Three years? You were ten then! How? Why? Whose are they?"

Yes I am well aware of that. I took them in when their mother didn't want them. They're Talia's.

"Talia reproduced?" Artemis stated in disbelief. "How old are they?"

Yes she did and they're four and three.

"You said they're with their father. Who is the man that knocked up the she-devil?"

You'd be surprised but the younger one is actually a clone of the older one. Talia said he was a "contingency plan" in case the first was too wild. Though from their personalities, the second one is more hyper which is why she gave him to me first and then the older one when he became too much like his brother.

"Uh…" Sophia could see the confusion set in on her friend's face.

Basically I convinced Talia to have a magical contract with me that cannot be broken because Talia sealed it with blood that says I am the two boys' "mother" and she was just their egg donor.

"Why?" Sophia placed her hands on her hips as she stood in front of her friend.

I couldn't have her produce a second generation of demons like her now could I?

"Well I suppose not, but how did you get her to have a magical contract drawn up?"

She overestimated her hand over me. Sophia's lips curled into a smirk. Artemis just looked at her in bewilderment. Sophia turned and pulled the back of her camisole down revealing her metal contraption. This is something similar to a shock collar. It's a safety precaution. Every time I wanted to speak to anyone on the League of Shadows I would be shocked. This was so that I couldn't command anyone to let me escape. Talia had it partially embedded into my skin so I couldn't just rip it off either. Not to mention it's also a tracker. Every time I speak the League knows a general radius of where I am. I've already blown my cover here so I had to throw them off by going to San Diego. Artemis just stared at her blankly. She opened her mouth to say something but her mom called out announcing the completion of dinner. The two girls walked to the kitchen, Sophia lagging behind a little to look out the window. _I hope the boys are having fun._

* * *

Gotham City

Wayne Mansion (7:00 P.M)

"Oh no I'm hit!" Dick clutched his hand over his heart holding a brightly colored foam dart before dramatically falling on his back. A tiny giggle came from behind the upturned sofa. "Good bye cruel world!" The boy wonder pushed his arm out as he laid on his back.

"Don't die Dick!" Terry's small cries filled the room.

"I see the light, little T. Tell Dami he can't eat Alfred's last cookie. Good bye cruel world!" The boy wonder rasped before sticking out his tongue and closing his eyes. Terry draped his tiny body over his older brother in a playful manner not realizing what "death" meant. Realizing his brother was not going to respond Terry decided to do what every three year old did for attention. He jumped on Dick's chest.

"Wake up Dickie! Wake up!" Dick groaned from the uncontrolled force bouncing on his chest (No matter how tiny, someone jumping on your chest still hurt.)

Nerf darts littered the entire room. Jason scoped out the room spying a pair of white socks sticking out from under the dark blue curtains. Positioning his Nerf gun he was about to shoot when a tiny projectile launched itself onto his back successfully pulling him to the floor.

"Drake, attack now!" Damian's little voice cried over to the white socks. Tim stood over his older brother with his own Nerf gun.

"You too Timmy? I thought you were our brother! Why did you join the dark side?" Jason cried as he saw Tim smirk evilly.

"Well they had the cookies. But…" Tim pointed the gun at Damian who was not sitting on Jason's face. "They forgot the milk!" Tim shot Damian who stared wide eyed at him before a bright orange dart stuck on his forehead.

"You crossed me?" Damian gasped in surprise. "How could you?" He cried before following Dick's fake death scene. The boys laughed and commenced to wrestle each other. Terry squealed in delight as Jason threw him into the air catching him as he fell. Damian and Tim were tackling Dick who had stolen the last of Alfred's plate of cookies. It ended up with more cookie on the floor than in their mouths. Alfred came by later to find the entertainment room completely trashed with Jason draped across the sofa and Damian under him sleeping next to Terry whose foot was pressing against Dick's head who slept sitting up leaning on the sofa while Tim laid across Dick's legs. Alfred sighed before snapping a picture to show Bruce later. The old butler began to pick up the massive mess quietly so that the slumbering boys would not waken.

* * *

A/N: Super long chapter is a go! Thank you for reading! Please review! Pretty please with doughnuts and cupcakes on top?

Kali: That sound unsanitary.

Me: Oh shut up! Please review!


	10. Chapter 7

Robin: You forgot about us!

Me:*sputtering* No never! I had a brain fart and was transported to Neverland with no computer!

Kali: You forgot about this for two days.

Robin: Are we not important enough?

Me: What? Of course you're important. Ahh! I'm such a horrible person!

Kali/Damian: Yes you are.

Me: Waah! I'm sorry! A gazillion apologies!

Damian: Tt.

Terry: It's otay. You don't own us anyways so… *tears appear* so waaah! You forgot about us!

Me: I said sorry already! I'll be in my depress corner now. Please enjoy this chapter while I reflect on my stupidity.

* * *

Gotham Heights (Three days ago)

Sprang Boulevard 302 (8:42 A.M)

Paula looked into the refrigerator and sighed at its bareness. She tried to hide the fact that supporting another person on a disability pension was not stressful, but Sophia could tell that the woman was already suffering since last night's dinner was rather large. The Asian woman could barely afford feeding Artemis and herself; so, the guilt-stricken thirteen year old grabbed her gear and walked up to the former Huntress.

Hey Paula, I'm going out for a bit. Are you okay? Paula only smiled though her hands were around her stomach, and she was trembling slightly.

"Have fun, dear. I know it can be pretty boring since I become restless in here too. I was heading out to the grocery store for supplies but my back is acting up again. Nothing a couple of pills can't fix, don't be so troubled." The ravenette looked at her surrogate mother with concern.

Why don't I get them, the groceries, then? I mean I'm heading out anyways. You should rest.

"I don't want to bother you on your trip out." Sophia placed her hands on her hips leaning on her left leg.

Please, Paula. If anything I'm a bother to you. I mean I literally invaded your home. It's the least I can do. The middle aged woman just laughed cringing only slightly as another spasm went through her body.

"Alright then," she wheeled herself to the kitchen counter, "Here's the list and money for groceries. You don't have to come back right away. I'm sure you want to do some exploring. Just try to be back by 3:30, when Artemis comes home." The girl nodded.

I might even pick her up from school. She grinned widely while Paula shook her head light-heartedly.

"Have fun then"

Will do. Take some pain killers and rest. See you later! Sophia gave her a mock salute before heading out the door.

* * *

Gotham City Park

Sophia scoped out the scene before her. The park was holding what appeared to be an open farmers' market, meaning there were many people with spare change. Grinning, she opened her guitar case, pulling out her beloved acoustic. She placed the weathered case in front to catch any spare change. After tuning her guitar and watching as a group of families mill around her she began singing.

_~ Stop me on the corner~  
~ I swear you hit me like a vision~  
~I, I, I wasn't expecting~  
~But who am I to tell fate where it's supposed to go, with it~_

Someone sat a speaker next to her without realizing it was on, allowing anyone within seven feet of her to hear.

_~Don't you blink you might miss it~  
~See we got a right to just love it or leave it~  
~You find it and keep it~  
~Cause it ain't every day you get the chance to say~_

The crowds milling around started to stop and listen to her as she got up from her sitting position. She swayed a bit in time with the music.

_~Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart~  
~It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun~  
~Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky~  
~Shining how we want, brighter than the sun~_

A young couple hugged each other as Sophia sang, smiling brightly.

_~I've never seen it, I found this love, I'm gonna feed it~  
~You better believe, I'm gonna treat it better than anything I've ever had~  
~Cause you're so damn beautiful~  
~Read it, it's signed and delivered let's seal it~  
~Boy we go together like peanuts and Paydays and Marley and reggae~  
~And everybody needs to get a chance to say~_

~Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart~  
~It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun~  
~Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky~  
~Shining how we want, brighter than the sun~

~Everything is like a white out, cause we shika-shika a shine down~  
~Even when the, when the light's out but I can see you glow~  
~Got my head up in the rafters, got me happy ever after~  
~Never felt this way before, ain't felt this way before~

_~I swear you hit me like a vision~  
~I, I, I wasn't expecting~  
~But who am I to tell fate where it's supposed to go? ~_

The crowd clapped as she bowed bashfully before picking her guitar back up. Many came up to her dropping their loose change into her case. Small children started to huddle around her letting their parents have minor heart attacks before finding them again.

_~I used to think maybe you love me, now baby I'm sure~  
~And I just can't wait till the day, when you knock on my door~  
~Now every time I go for the mail box, gotta hold myself down~  
~'cause I just can't wait till you write me, you're coming around~  
_

The children giggled as she skipped around them before they started following her in an impromptu game of follow the leader. She would skip and twirl making the children squeal with glee.

_~I'm walking on sunshine (whoa oh)~  
~I'm walking on sunshine (whoa oh)~  
~I'm walking on sunshine (whoa oh)~  
~And don't it feel good (HEY!) Alright now~  
~And don't it feel good (HEY!) Alright now~  
~All right now yeah! (HEY!)~  
_

Many of the parents laughed as they filmed their children while other passersby dropped more change into the case after smiling at the gleeful scene.

_~I used to think maybe you love me, I know that it's true~  
~And I don't wanna spend all of my life just waiting for you (just waiting for you)~  
~Now I don't want you back for the weekend, not back for a day, no, no, no~  
~Baby I just want you back and I want you to stay~_

~Walking on sunshine~  
~Walking on sunshine~

~I feel the love, I feel the love, I feel the love that's really real~  
~I feel the love, I feel the love, I feel the love that's really real~

~I'm on sunshine baby yeah~  
~I'm on sunshine baby yeah~

Sophia pulled the children into a line before making a bowing motion. The youthful group bowed clumsily before returning to their parents smiling over their fun. The guitar continued to play as the crowd flowed on to other stalls.

* * *

Artemis, Dick, and Barbra were passing out flyers for Gotham Academy's art auction when Artemis spotted a large crowd around some open benches listening to music.

"Hey what's that?" Barbra pointed to a fire breather, opposite of the large group. She pulled Dick who could barely keep hold of his flyers as his feet were dragged away. Artemis didn't hear them and investigated the source of the crowd. To her utter surprise, she saw Sophia singing and dancing joyfully. _I thought she said she couldn't speak…_ Artemis walked up to her best friend who had finished and was packing up her things. With her back turned Artemis reached out to touch her shoulder when Sophia whirled around.

I can sing. Her eyes read.

But…how? Is this how you've been living before you found me? As a traveling musician?

The frequency of my voice when I sing is one that the machine can't pick up so I'm perfectly safe like this. And yeah, but look I've earned forty bucks in cash and who knows what in coins! The girl showed her blonde friend her loot gleefully. What are you doing here anyways? I thought you had school?

Impressive, I'm here advertising the school's art auction. It's to support the art department. And yes, your brother's here. Sophia's eyes widen before she gathered her things and started to scurry away. Artemis grabbed her shoulder.

"Where are you going? This is your chance!" She said to the back of the younger girl's head. Her only answer was a shake of the head. "What's wro…?"

"Hey! There you are, Artemis. Where'd you go? We were looking for you! Are you talking to someone?" Dick smiled with a questioning gaze, Barbra standing behind him with an equal stare. Artemis opened her mouth to speak but Sophia yanked her shoulder free before vanishing into the moving crowd behind them.

"No, not anymore. C'mon we still have a ton of flyers to pass out. The trio resumed their advertising.

* * *

Gotham City

Super G (2:12 P.M)

Sophia sighed as she walked through the aisles of the grocery store. _That was close_. She picked up carton of eggs and placed it into her cart. She picked out the items on Paula's list before spying a sale on meat and vegetables. The excursion to the farmers' market proved beneficial as the grocery prices seemed to rise as soon as she walked to the item. $4_.95 for a gallon of milk! That's expensive! Should've gone to other store._ With the groceries paid she walked out into the parking lot. She almost made it to the bus stop when she heard commotion behind her.

"Hey old man, nice suit. Why don't you let me try it on?" Sophia turned to see a thin, balding old man surrounded by three burly men. _It's always has to be a group of three idiots._ Sophia scowled.

"I don't want any trouble here, sir." The old man said in a British accent, his groceries still in his cart waiting patiently next to a black Benz. Sophia bristled at the sight and walked back over to the men.

"Oh we've got a Brit, here. Well ol 'chap, just give us your money and we'll let you off easy. What do you say?" the middle man with a red shirt mocked in a horrible impersonation of the British.

"I rather not." The old man said with a straight face.

"Well we'll just have to take it then. Won't we, boys?" The three men lunged towards the man when a small figure interrupted them.

"Move aside, little girl." The blue shirted man barked as he back-handed her in the face making her fall over her groceries.

"Oh dear." The suited man proclaimed. Sophia looked beneath her and saw Paula's groceries ruined. Furious she stalked over to the man who slapped her and threw him aside with so much force the man passed out.

"Tony!" The green shirted man gasped and ran over to help him. Sophia ignored the threats thrown at her and stepped up behind the red man who had the Brit by his lapels. She tapped his shoulder having to stand on her tip toes.

"What do…?"

"**Release him.**"

"Wha…?" The man's pupils dilated.

"**Now.**" The British man was promptly dropped. By now the other two men came over. "**Apologize. Now.**" The men turned to their original target and apologized reverently. "**Help him with his groceries. Put them in his car.**" The large men followed the petite ravenette's orders, leaving her and the old man alone.

"Thank you very much, Miss." She glared at the men before turning to him. She smiled but there were traces of agony behind her eyes. _Blue eyes, exactly like Master Richard's!_ Alfred gasped discreetly before walking off to return the empty cart when the men were finished. The three men surrounded Sophia awaiting more instruction.

"**Answer my next questions truthfully.**" The men nodded stupidly. "**Do you have money on you?**" More nods followed while she rolled her eyes. "**How much?**"

"About sixty each." The men said in their hypnotic state. Sophia dipped her head in approval.

"**Good, now,**" She handed them Paula's grocery list, "**go back into the store and buy all that's on this list. Add some extra fruits and steaks, good ones. Pay with your money and deliver the items to this address on the bottom of this piece of paper. Do not do anything else until you are finished with this task. After that forget everything you did within this hour. Go.**" She watched as the men lumbered into the store before giving into the rapid shots of electricity running through her veins. Alfred came back in time to catch the girl as her knees buckled underneath her.

"Are you alright? Miss? Miss?" The girl doesn't respond. Quickly Alfred gathered her into his Benz before driving back to the Manor to tend to the distressed girl.

* * *

Gotham Heights

Sprang Boulevard 302

Paula woke to the sound of a knocking door. She pulled herself into her wheel chair before answering the door. To her surprise, three burly men stood outside her door carrying bags of groceries.

"May I help you?" Paula asked.

"Delivery." The men dropped the bags beside her before walking away confused as to why they were at Gotham Heights. Paula stared at the note that laid on top of a bag.

Paula,

Something came up and I can't come back in time so I asked these nice men to deliver your groceries. I also threw in some steaks that were on sale. Enjoy!

Love Sophia

Paula sighed but took the groceries to the kitchen and waited for Artemis to return.

* * *

Gotham City

Wayne Manor (3:00 P.M)

Alfred went to check on his guest currently unconscious in the next room having extra time since Terry and Damian had started after school day care. The older brothers had insisted on picking them up themselves as a way to bond. The Wayne family wasn't due back for another 45 minutes.

Sophia cursed silently as jolts of electricity ran through her before subsiding into nothing again. Finally regaining herself, she looked around noticing the large, four post bed that engulfed her small frame. The rest of the bedroom appeared equally grand and cavernous. She tried to suppress the oncoming wave of panic but it was quickly dashed when the giant mahogany doors opened.

"Ah, Miss, you have awaken. I was starting to worry." Alfred's voice seemed to echo in the room. Shocked Sophia jumped off the bed but fell when her muscles spasmed. "Oh my." The old butler quickly helped the girl who dipped her head in thanks. "Come with me, I have some hot chocolate for you." The two went down the hall to the kitchen. Sophia couldn't help but admire the grandeur of it as she walked around the room exploring the new looking equipment. She gasped in surprise when a monitor on the refrigerator brightened into life. Alfred chuckled. _She's just like Masters Jason and Richard when they first came in here._ He handed her a cup of liquid chocolate. She almost placed the cup to her mouth when she stiffened under the window over the breakfast nook. Unsettled she placed the cup down quickly, gathered her things that were waiting patiently by the central island, and walked up to Alfred. Alfred watched in confusion at her sudden movements but paid attention when she drew a circle with a vertical line through the middle. After the second time of drawing the symbol, Sophia bowed in an almost Asian fashion before fleeing out of the mansion. "Miss! Wait!" Alfred called out after her as he ran to the opened door. The butler watched as the mysterious girl faded into the shadows leaving him standing at the door frame.

"Alfred? What are you doing?" Bruce asked his friend who was still standing at the open door. "Alfred?" He waved a hand over the butler's face.

"Master Bruce!" Alfred broke his trance. "What are you doing home so early?"

"Meeting ended early so I thought I'd pick the boys up today. Are you alright?"

"Hmm? Oh yes I'm quite alright." He closed the door.

"Okay. Say did you have a guest over?" Bruce noticed the cup of steaming untouched hot chocolate.

"Yes I did as a matter of fact. Peculiar girl I might add." Bruce's eyebrow lifted as the Wayne butler recapped his day. "And she left without a word. Only drew this symbol twice, here." Alfred handed Bruce the symbol the girl had drawn.

"This is…" Bruce was interrupted by a knock at the door. Alfred went to open it, Bruce right behind him leaving the symbol on the kitchen counter.

"Hello, Beloved." A voice purred from behind the opened door.

"Talia?"

* * *

Streets of Gotham (3:15 P.M)

Footsteps pounded the weathered cement as Sophia tore down the streets of Gotham. She could hear light thumps of pursuers jumping from the building tops. She mistakenly turned a corner finding herself at a dead end. The fire escape on her left was folded up and no amount of jumping from her small frame could reach it. She swiveled at the sound of two thumps as a pair of shadows fell in front of her.

"Hey there, BC, or should I say BD? Your name always changes before I can learn it." Filtered sunlight glimpsed off a metal claw. Sophia's eyes widened at the sight.

"Been awhile, eh, Hook?" The second shadow walked into the limited light.

"Oh yes. It has, Cain." The two men rushed forward seizing the girl by her arms. "Let's say hey to Lady Talia, shall we? I'm sure another retraining session is needed." Sophia struggled against the two assassins, eyes wide with terror. "Come along nicely and you won't be hurt. That badly."

"**Let go.**" She cried but the effect her voice usually held was lost on their ears.

"Haha, thought you'd use your pretty little voice so Professor Ojo whipped these babies up. Frequency blockers. Pretty nifty. So no voice command for you." Cain pointed to an ear piece that flashed bright orange. Sophia flinched as a shock jolted her body. In one last attempt she flipped her form backwards swinging her legs into the men's faces. They immediately released her to grab their broken noses. This gave Sophia the springboard she needed to reach the fire escape. Without a second glance back the fleeing ex-assassin ran towards Gotham Heights .

* * *

Gotham City

Wayne Manor (3:51 P.M)

The men of the Wayne family sat in confusion as the woman before them ranted on and on.

"That little *explicit string of words that I don't feel like writing*! She stole my heir from me! She's a *another long line of Arabic, now, curses that are not suitable for children*." Dick and Jason covered their little brothers' ears as Bruce covered Tim's.

"Talia, stop this behavior at once." Bruce commanded in full Bat mode. The assassin stopped her ranting briefly before pulling the two youngest Waynes from their brothers. Terry shrieked in terror when Talia wrapped her hand around his tiny wrist. Damian stared haunted at the woman before him. The older brothers voiced their complaints.

"Silence!" Talia bellowed. "I must ask my _**sons**_ a question." She turned to Damian who had positioned himself once again in front of Terry much like when they first saw her, after they came home from day care. "Where is she?" Damian said nothing, his lips tightly sealed. Talia smacked him across the face eliciting angered protests from Jason who was being restrained by Dick. Though Dick also wanted to punish this devil incarnate as well, he figured it would be best to not engage, yet. Damian did not cry but instead spat in her face drawing out an indignant and angered cry from Talia.

"Inconsiderate whelp! Answer me! As your mother, I command you!" Bruce was about to step in when Talia fingered her side knife resting by her hip.

Terry gained a burst of courage as he shouted, "You're not our maică! You diavoliţă!" Within seconds of his words leaving his mouth the three year old was flung back onto the hard wood floor. Dick quickly rushed to him gathering the toddler in his arms before sending death glares at the woman, the intruder, currently in their parlor. Jason lunged for the devil incarnate before being restrained by Alfred.

"Answer me! Don't you move, Beloved, otherwise you'll be missing a son or two." Bruce stilled instantly before resigning to internal cursing. Damian quivered slightly as Talia stepped before him. "Whe..?"

"We don't know, you she-devil!" Everyone stilled at the sudden outburst. "We don't know anyone named BD or where she is! So leave!"

"My, my, Beloved, are you teaching these boys manners? No? Well I'll have to myself." She quickly slashed across Tim's chest who had stepped in front of Damian's face before it made contact.

"Tim! Drake!" The members of the Wayne family exclaimed as they watched their middle child fall to the ground bleeding profusely. Bruce lunged forward along with Jason barely missing the assassin who quickly walked to the door. Alfred had already started putting pressure on Tim's wound while Dick soothed Terry. Damian stared wide eyed at his wounded brother.

"You're stupid." He muttered but without the normal malice behind it.

"It's… just… a … flesh wound, Damian." Tim rasped out, shock overcoming his body. The second youngest growled half heartedly at Tim's reference.

"Now is not the time for idiotic film references, Drake." Tim only chuckled before closing his eyes.

"Master Timothy, do not sleep just yet. Doctor Leslie is on her way."

"Wha..eva…you … say… Alf." Tim coughed while he was positioned on his back with his legs slightly elevated.

Jason and Bruce were still attempting to capture the villainess when she received a call. The two men could hear shouting come from the Arabic woman. Something along the lines of "you what?" and "You had her but let her escape", the usual. With a "I'm on my way," she hanged up and disappeared into the shadows. The older Waynes stared angrily at each other before remembering their injured family member. Doctor Leslie arrived seconds later and had her supplies out before the men could blink. After stopping the bleeding and clearing it away, Dr. Leslie verified that Tim would be fine after a night's rest.

"It was just like he said, a flesh wound. He won't even have a scar." Dr. Leslie packed up and shook Bruce's hand before departing. Tim was moved to his room and left to rest.

Outside the room Terry sat on Dick's shoulders smiling quietly, uncharacteristically. "What did you…" Dick began.

"Don't ask." Bruce's gruff voice answered as he pinched the bridge of his nose. The rest of the family journeyed to the kitchen where the boys find the symbol still laying on the counter.

"Hey, Bruce, what's this?" Jason picked up the piece of paper. Damian and Terry's eyes widened unnoticeably while Bruce stared at the symbol.

"Dick, I have to tell you something." Dick's head fell to one side in confusion. "It's about your sister."

* * *

A/N: And done! super long chapter as peace offering of having forgotten about this story (already!) Plus a cliffy!

Kali: Doesn't matter since it sucked anyways.

A/N: Not listening ~ The songs, if you were wondering are, _Brighter than the Sun_ by Colbie Caillet and _Walking on Sunshine_ by Aly and AJ

Tim: Did I really have to be knifed?

A/N: I'm sorry! It just popped into my mind and I thought it'd fit…Please review! X3 I don't forget as often if i get more! :D


	11. Chapter 8

**Me:** Hey! Happy Father's day! New Chapter that has nothing to do with today though.

**Kali: **Then why say it at all?

**Me:** Cuz it's a day to show our dads that we love them!

**Kali: **Not everyone feels the same way you know.

**Me:** Well you're a poopy pants! I don't own anything related to DC comics at all! otherwise Jason would totally be in Young Justice! Enjoy!

* * *

**Gotham City (two days ago)**

**Sprang Boulevard 302, Gotham Heights (4:00 P.M)**

"What do you mean she's gone?" Artemis whispered to her mother who had told her Sophia's disappearance. "I just saw her today!" Paula sighed sadly at her youngest daughter.

"I know that, Artemis. I'm just saying she said she was caught up with something and won't be back yet. She's not gone." Artemis huffed but conceded to her mother. Just as she was about to say something the window in her room burst open and shuffling could be heard. The two Crock women immediately rushed over to the room ready to take down the intruder. Artemis gasped when she saw Sophia collecting the rest of her things.

"Phi, what are you doing?" The girl turned to her best friend, fear etched into her smooth features.

I have to go.

"Go? Go where?"

Talia is in the city. Hook and Cain found me. I have to leave. Lie low for awhile. I don't want to risk your lives if they come here. Paula looked shock at her adopted daughter, but she gathered herself and wheeled to the next room.

"Why would they come here?"

They know you live here, Ari. Sophia stared at Artemis with a sad expression. Artemis looked green at the thought. You're father apparently kept ties within the League. He knows you live here so in turn the League knows you live here as well. I have to go, now.

"Where will you go?" Sophia hopped onto the window ledge her guitar case on her back and a hoodie over her camisole. Paula wheeled back in with an envelope. She gave it to Sophia who took it hesitantly. The young teen gawked at the contents.

Paula I cannot have this. She handed the envelope back to the Asian woman. I might go back to my little alley. I have a box there. Pretty cozy after awhile. No Paula I'm not taking it. It's way too much. The ex-villainess glared at her with a stern motherly gaze.

"Sophia Grayson, you are like a daughter to me. I may not have much, but when one of my children needs something I will always provide for them. Take the money." Sophia gaped at her before tears streamed down her face. She gracefully accepted the envelope of money before looking back at Artemis who also had tears in her eyes.

"Just come back when everything dies down, promise sis?" The young fugitive gave her best friend/ sister a silly mock salute and disappeared out the window. Paula shed a few tears before rolling away to make dinner. They ate early because Paula's medicine was time sensitive and had to be eaten at 6:00 P.M and could not have anything else after ingestion. Artemis sat down on her bed only to feel something under the sheets. Pulling back her covers she saw a thing sitting contently on her bed. Picking it up she saw that it had a note attached to it.

-I found this in Chinatown. Thought you might like it. Love Phi- Artemis looked at the thing again. It was a green sphere with two flaps coming off of its sides and placed on top of a rectangular box. It had two eyes on the sphere while a clock on the bottom. Artemis laughed at her new alarm clock that had started going off with some chirping sound making its flaps move up and down comically. -Wake Up Ari! – the sphere chirped in a cute automatic voice after a minute of chirps. Artemis shook her head lightheartedly as she cupped her hand over the flaps shutting off the noise.

"Artemis! Dinner is ready."

"Coming, mom!"

**Happy Harbor**

**Mount Justice (5:00 P.M)**

"Recognize Robin B01." The zeta tubes announced as an agitated Robin stalked into the mountain. Wally who had just stopped by to show Connor a new video game. Connor had surprising picked up a love for them thanks to certain red and raven haired boys. Wally noticed his friend's agitation as he passed through the sparring room and into the mountain's gym. The ginger followed him and watched as the little bird started punching one of Connor's punching bags. The Boy Wonder let out aggravated grunts every time his hand connected to the Kyptonian-proof bag.

"Dude, you alright?" Wally asked into the large gym. Robin simply grunted without looking up. "What's wro…" Wally froze when he remembered what tomorrow meant for the little bird. He almost face palmed himself for his ignorance. Every year since he met the raven-haired boy, the one time he wouldn't smile, laugh, talk, or sometimes eat was a few days before _**that day**_. He had gotten better over the last two years and only became depressed or angry a day in advance. Wally ran over to his younger friend and gave him a brotherly hug. The ravenette huffed and gave another punch when Wally receded. Robin didn't stop punching even when he knew his knuckles were already numb and broken. "Dude!" Wally yelped at the sight of his hands. "Come on I'll get RT to patch you up.

After the two boys got Robin patched up in the med-bay, they found M'gann and Connor in the kitchen. M'gann was baking something again while Connor helped clean up. M'gann looked over to them before noticing Robin's hands.

"Robin! Are you alright?" She gasped alerting Superboy. Robin just nodded solemnly before looking at the ingredients on the counter.

"I'm fine, just punched too much. What are you making, Miss M?" M'gann floated to the oven and pulled out her baked goods, which shockingly weren't burnt.

"I'm making French macaroons! I found a recipe in a cook book I found. Would you like one?" She piped out the filling before giving the troubled teen a fresh one. Batman's protégé quickly slapped her hand away in fear causing the pastry to fall to the floor.

"What was that for?" Connor growled at him while M'gann stood in shock at Robin's attack. Even Wally gasped at his friend's lash out.

"Bro!"

"I'm sorry. It's just that I'm allergic, fatally allergic, to almonds."

"What does that…" Connor began before M'gann gasped.

"Hello Megan! Macaroons use almond flour. I'm so sorry Robin." Wally quickly pulled his hand that held another macaroon away from his friend. Robin stepped out of the kitchen area and into the living room before speaking.

"It's okay. I have an epipen on me at all times." He reached into his pouch and pulled out a tube before placing it on the counter. "I didn't tell you so you wouldn't have known anyways. I'm sorry I hit you."

"I totally forgot about that! Sorry Rob." Wally washed his hands before patting his friend on the shoulder. Robin shrugged and walked to his room down the hall, completely forgetting his lifesaving pen. M'gann returned to her backing while Connor and Wally went to play video games again, waiting for the little bird to calm down; all of them unwittingly left the pen on counter. Once inside Robin replayed what had happened at home before arriving at the mountain.

** back 0000000000000000000000000**

**Wayne Manor (4:00 P.M)**

"_Dick, I have to tell you something." Dick's head fell to one side in confusion. "It's about your sister."_

_Dick stared wide eyed at his adoptive father who motioned for him to follow him. The rest of the family stayed behind long enough for the duo to head into Bruce's office before running to ease drop through the door. Terry was sadly left with Alfred since his brothers thought he couldn't keep quiet. The two remaining bodies in the kitchen stared at each other before Terry giggled and flipped off the counter giving Alfred a heart attack. This only entertained the small toddler more.(He found this out later.) _

_In Bruce's office, Dick sat in one of the large cushioned chairs making him feel smaller than he already was. Bruce was typing something on his computer. He could hear his brothers shuffling behind the door and smiled inwardly. Bruce finished drawing up whatever he needed to his computer and motioned for his second oldest son to see. Dick walked over behind him and gasped audibly when he saw his face staring back at him. Getting a closer look the face had softer edges and large expressive eyes, brilliantly identical, blue eyes. The picture showed a long, thick braid hang around her right shoulder._

"_Is this…Is she…"_

"_Yes."_

"_How? Where is…" _

"_This was taken yesterday at the Gotham City Annual Farmers' Market." Dick's mouth could have dropped to the ground if it were that long. Bruce clicked on another tab that revealed a girl standing at attention next to another child who was wearing a white mask with a red mask over his face. Dick's eyes widened to the size of saucers as he stared at himself from three years ago. "That's…when I was…"_

"_You. As Red X, yes." He clicked on the picture making it come alive into a security feed. "This was taken when you were on a mission with Deathstroke in Melbourne. I ran your features through a face recognition database when you were missing and got this. Do you notice anything about the girl next to you?" _

"_She was…She was Black Diamond, right?... She was BD! The girl Talia was looking for!"_

"_And?"_

"_And what? It's obvious that this girl is missing, and she made Talia madder than a cow with mad cow disease."_

"_And?" Dick looked in confusion at his father who sighed and zoomed in on a scene where the girl's face was shown. Two blue eyes stared off into the distance when the scene froze. Dick gasped and grabbed the screen to get a closer look. He noted a small tattoo at the corner of her right eye. It was a black diamond with two small red xs next to it just on top of her cheekbone. "Dick I don't know if you know this or not but your family is one of the four remaining lines to have what are called hyacinth blue. It's the rarest shade of blue in the world. Only two hundred people in the world have this eye color as of today."_

"_Then that means that… I was with… She couldn't speak! She still helped… Wha?" Dick fell to the floor in shock, his brain trying to form coherent thoughts again. "Bruce, are you telling me that I was with my sister for six whole months without even realizing it?" Bruce nodded solemnly. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have known about her sooner!"_

"_I didn't make the connection until recently. And there's more."  
"More?"_

"_I have reason to believe this Phi person I've encountered so many times is her as well."_

"_Phi? Like the math symbol?" Dick decided to stay on the thick carpet. The Dark Knight handed him a stack of letters he kept in his desk. Dick looked through them with confusion, but bristled at the one when Jason went missing as well, three years ago. He saw that all had been signed either with _Phi G_ or with the actual symbol, phi. _

"_On the ones that were signed with just the symbol, the closing was always a _So a. _When you write out Phi in between _So_ and _a,_ you get…"_

"_Sophia! And if you put a 'G' after that… Sophia Grayson! No way!" Dick stared in shock at his sister's letters. "Then that means that she's Damian and Terry's… no wonder they can speak Romanian! And Talia…" Dick bristled at the thought of Talia al Ghul near his sister. "That diavoliţă! Did you see how she acted when she spoke of her? Like she was some sort of property or pet!..." Dick fumed inside before another thought occurred to him. "She's in the city! We have to find her!"_

"_I'm working on it. You can go now." Bruce returned to his computer._

"_How? You're just sitting here! You… we should be out there now looking for her!"_

"… _It's too…"_

"_Too what? Too early for the Dark Knight to appear? Too sudden? Not planned out? 'Everything needs at least five back up plans'…" Dick barked angrily. "She's out there Bruce! I need to find her."_

"_And you will, but not now." Bruce didn't look up from the screen, creating a barrier between father and son. Dick stormed off towards the door. "It's too risky for both you and her." Dick stopped cold with his fingers on the door knob._

"_What?"_

"_Dick, I know how much you want to find, Sophia. Believe me I would too if I was in your position, but right now Talia and her men are looking for her. If we go out to look for her it will only give clues to them. We'll have to wait until their activity dies down before we can start." Dick gripped the knob turning his knuckles white, but he sighed and conceded. "Go rest, son. I know how this week is for you. We'll start looking tonight on patrol if you want." Dick smiled lightly and opened the door. Three ravenettes tumbled into the office with Damian sitting on top of Tim, looking slightly guilty. _

"_She told us not to." Damian muttered making Dick strain to hear._

"_What?"_

"_She told us not to tell you about her." Damian finished. Dick's eyes once again widened at the thought._

"_Why?" Dick's voice came out in a whisper._

"_She didn't want you to remember." The Wayne family looked in shock at the small boy as he muttered Phi's message to him. Dick almost fell over again before he caught himself and rushed to his room. Damian continued since his head was down and didn't see Dick leave, but the crushed teen was already on his bed and had locked the doors._

**000000000000000000000000End of Flash Back000000000000000000000000**

Dick sighed miserably when he heard the rapid knocks of a speedster. He opened his door to see Wally shifting from foot to foot.

"Hey." He answered as he let the red headed speedster in.

"Are you alright? Don't lie." Dick hesitated too long before nodding. "I may not be Batman's protégé but I know when my best bro is lying to me. What's wrong?" Dick sighed and sat with his knees drawn up to his chest.

"She doesn't want me to remember her." He whispered almost inaudibly.

"What?"

"She doesn't want me." He repeated.

"That…That can't be true."

"Damian said…"

"Wait! The little demon spawn told you? Well you know for sure it's a lie then!"

"No, Wally, you don't get it."

"Get what?"

"She was their caretaker."

"Whose?"

"Terry and Damian's."

"Wha..? How…?Umm…" Wally scratched his head in confusion.

"Bru…Batman told me that he had reason to believe that a certain missing criminal was my sister."

"Your sister is a criminal?" Dick drew his head back for a nod before stopping and shook his head instead.

"No, not a criminal."

"You're making no sense right now." Robin sighed before rubbing his face with frustration.

"I mean… I think she's being forced to be a criminal." Wally's eyes grew wide. "You remember when we were in Jump City meeting other heroes and I got kidnapped?" Wally nodded. "Well I was taken by a guy known as Deathstroke who made me into a criminal named Red X, remember?"

"Yeah! I do. It was really strange to fight you since you knew all our weaknesses, but what does that have to do with…"

"Well I wasn't alone." Robin confessed. "I was… I met this girl named Black Diamond."

"Okay, so?"

"She never spoke a word but she had the same eye color as me. She helped me escape."

"Wait so Batman never found you? How does eye color matter? I'm sure there's plenty of people with your eye color. It could've been a coincidence."

"Well he did and he didn't." Dick could see the confusion drift into his friend's eyes. "He found me where she left me to be found, otherwise he would have never have found me. I mean he would have found me but probably longer than six months. And my eye color, apparently, is the rarest shade of blue on the planet. Only 200 people have it." Wally looked at him in shock before his stomach broke the tension. Robin rolled his eyes before laughing. Wally grinned at the sight of his friend smiling again.

"Well come on! I'm starving!" The two walked back to the kitchen which had been cleared of all almonds since the macaroons had been placed back into the oven and all the ingredients had been put away. "Hey Megan! What's for dinner?"

* * *

**Gotham City**  
**Crime Alley (11:30 P.M)**

_~I need another story~  
~Something to get off my chest~  
~My life gets kinda boring~  
~Need something that I can confess~  
~'Til all my sleeves are__ stained __red~_

Jason stopped at the sound of music coming from the most notorious alleyways in the infamously crime riddled city. There was a haunting undertone within it along with rhythmic clinks and thumps of metal. Confused at the thought of hearing music in Crime Alley, he jumped up onto the ledge of one of the buildings overlooking the alley. Swinging from the various pipes connecting the buildings was a small figure, singing.

_~Thought you saw me wink, no~  
~I've been on the brink, so~_

Jason climbed down one of the various fire escapes to get a closer look. Dressed in a stained camisole and shorts, the masked teen saw a girl performing aerial tricks off o the metal pipes. _It's the girl from Ravenswood_! Jason stared at the girl who had a forlorn face as she flew through the air, weaving around the pipes. (A/N: Think of it like uneven bars in gymnastics only higher and farther spaced apart. And the pipes are a little thicker.)

_~So I'm gonna give all my secrets away~_

_~This time, don't need another perfect lie~_

_~Don't care if critics ever jump in line~_

_~I'm gonna give all my secrets away~_

_~My God, amazing how we got this far~_

The girl flew up towards the highest pipe and flipped herself to sit on top. From her sitting position, she bent her back so that she was hanging by her knees. Jason watched in horror and awe as she released her grip letting her fall a full story before catching the pipe below her after twisting sideways on her way down. _This is the same kind of fearless, reckless, stunts Dickie does whenever he's upset or angry…_ Jason sat in the shadows deep in thought. _And she's singing! This girl is either amazing or insane._ He watched as the girl continued to fly in the most notorious alleyway in Gotham City. _Definitely insane._

_~Oh, got no reason, got no shame~_

_~Got no family, I can blame~_

_~Just don't let me disappear~_

_~I'ma tell you everything~_

The girl swung rapidly on one of the lower pipes before tucking her body into a ball flipping at least three times and then caught herself in a handstand on another pipe. Afterwards she used the pipe as a balance beam walking up and down the thick pipe on her hands. In the dim lighting Jason saw her blue eyes sparkle with unshed tears. Silently he reached out to her as if to let her know she had him for support.

"Black Falcon." Jason's comm buzzed in his ear causing him to jump a bit, hitting his head on one of the pipes. The sound reverberated through the unusually quiet alley. All sound in the alley froze.

"Shit. What is it, Robin?" he snarled quietly into his comm.

The younger bird cackled at his brother's frazzled tone before adding, "Just wanted to say hey. I'm so bored over here. You got anything interesting?" The girl had stopped singing and vaulted over to his hiding place.

"Shit. I gotta go." He cut off his line as the girl stood in front of him though Jason was hidden in the shadows, his black attire blending perfectly into the background. She stared in confusion at him before having a realization. She smirked before flipping back onto another pipe leaving him confused and wanting to follow her. So he did. He slid out of the shadows into the dimly lit alley. Memories of his times on the streets flooded back to him sending chills down his spine. _I'm okay. It's different now. I don't live here anymore_. He breathed out calming the turmoil within him before looking ahead to a semi-large box leaning against the far left wall where the girl sat patiently waiting for him. She motioned him to join her, patting a square of cardboard. Cautiously he sat down with his back facing the wall so he had eyes on both ends of the dark alley. He looked around noting all the little details of his surroundings and concluded no threat was there. Jason turned his masked face towards the girl who stared silently at him waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing. When he finally looked back at her she smiled brightly.

You've been watching me. Her eyes spoke again causing a minor freak out of Jason. He gathered himself and cleared his throat.

"No! I mean yes... I mean no... Ugh! so do you live here?" he tried to change the topic making the girl giggle.

Yes I do. For now.

"It's dangerous here. Don't you have a place to stay? I'm sure your parents would be worried. I mean…" Jason looked at the small girl who had tears in her eyes as she remembered a memory. "Oh shit I'm sorry! Don't cry! Umm… umm… It's okay. I'm sorry." He let her shed a few tears before she wiped them away angrily as if she were mad at herself for crying in front of him. The girl opened her mouth as if to say something but decided against it and shook her head, looking off into the bleakness sadly. Scratching the back of his neck Jason coughed awkwardly. She looked back at him with such a sad expression that Jason could feel his heart break.

They died on this day, my parents. Jason sat in shock at her sudden confession. He looked at his watch and saw that it was midnight. It was a Thursday, April 1, the same day that Dick's parents had fallen, the day he lost his family, the day he became Robin. It was a cruel joke to play on such a day. _Dick! _Jason thought remembering how his little brother was on this day each year. He looked at the heart wrenching girl with indecision. For some reason he wanted to protect this girl but at the same time he had to be Dick's big brother, the one who was there for him to cry on. The girl smiled slightly as if she could read his internal conflict. I'm fine. You should go to the one who needs comfort. Jason took a double take at her.

"What are you talking about?"

I have somewhere to go. She looked up through the steaming pipes that she was just flying on. A shadow floated across the edge of the right apartment building. I think you have company. She picked up her guitar case, getting ready to leave. Jason gazed at her with confusion before he heard someone jump down behind him. Turning he took out a batarang posed to take out any threat. He immediately dropped it when he saw his little brother looking down at the dirt riddled ground.

"Robin?" He called to his brother who rushed over to him and launched himself into a hug. Jason braced himself for impact but still fell to the ground under his brother's weight. "Need to lay off the fat cakes, little bird." A tiny giggle wafted into the air but only for a second before soft whimpers filled the alleyway. "Shh. It's okay. There, there." Jason soothed as he pulled him and his brother to the cardboard box he had sat next to earlier for support as his brother cried. In the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of watery blue and a soft smile turn away from the two protégés of Batman.

* * *

A/N: Yay! Done with this chapter! It made me kinda sad to be honest... The name of the song that I butchered to prevent copyright legalities is _Secrets_ by OneRepublic. Please review! The more I get the more likely I'll keep this story up! X3 pretty please!

A/N: Also I might change this into a regular story instead of crossover... haven't decided yet... Please review!


	12. Chapter 9

**Me**: Hi!

**Kali**: Your late.

**Me**: I had a writer's block!

**Kali**: Knew it.

**Me**: What?

**Kali**: You just can't finish anything can you? I bet you won't even finish this one.

**Me**: That...that's not true!

**Kali**: Mmmhmmm we'll see.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything in here except the plot, Sophia, and one song...which really isn't a song if I think of it now...

* * *

**Gotham City (Yesterday)**

**Gotham City Cemetery (7:30 A.M)**

Rain mockingly poured down from the bright sunny sky as a figure walked through the rows of graves. The figure silently approached a pair of tombstones before crouching down to place flowers on the dirt. – Here lies John Grayson: Beloved Father, Faithful Husband, and Extraordinary Performer. – A single white rose rested before the tombstone while the other held a white carnation. – Here lies Mary Grayson: Beloved Mother, Faithful Wife, and Extraordinary Performer. – The rain drenched the figure as tears escaped its black eyelashes, the blue gaze never wavering from the graves before it. In the distance a robin sang alongside a sparrow in a single melody. Two hands gripped fistfuls of dirt as memories flooded back into the present. The screams of terror-stricken people filled the air before the dreadful crunch of bone splattering on the hard dirt ground. Every sight, sound, and smell replayed in fast repetition crippling the figure even more. Eventually the rain stopped, leaving a soggy figure curled up before the two graves. Seconds later the figure heard footsteps on the wet cobbled pathway and quickly gathered itself before vanishing completely. As the other person stopped at the deceased Graysons the former figure was already gone and on the streets of Gotham City.

* * *

**Gotham City**

**Wayne Manor (7:45 A.M)**

The phone shrilled for attention as the residents of the Wayne family began to wake up for the day. Of course, the trusty butler received the phone with a cordial "Wayne residence," before making a small "uh- huh" and walking upstairs to the bedrooms to inform the family. The first bedroom he encountered was one whose occupant slept soundly, completely dead to the world even with four alarm clocks screaming at once. Alfred shook his head disapprovingly before shutting off the nuisances, leaving a certain sixteen year old still comatose. His next ward's room on the other hand was unsurprisingly empty. With a sigh he left for the next room where he found Tim sitting at his computer typing furiously away.

"Master Timothy! What on Earth are you doing out of bed?" Alfred walked over to the recently injured boy. "Dr. Thompkins specifically told you to not be up and about for the next three days."

"Oh, hey Alfred. It's cool I just need to figure this out and then I'll be back in bed before Jason wakes up." Alfred sighed and walked over to the young Wayne to usher him back into bed. Tim shot up in a fit of excitement before his wound caught him. "Yes! Ow!" He clutched his chest as Alfred helped him back under the covers. "So Alfred, what were you coming in here for?"

"Only to check on you, Master Timothy. Gotham Academy informed me that classes have been cancelled for the rest of the week due to some infestation. Please rest. I do not want to explain to Master Bruce why your bandages fell apart, again." The British butler exited the room after placing Tim's second computer, laptop, on his bed so he could continue whatever he was looking at. Alfred didn't even bother to go into the youngest Waynes' room; for before he reached the door, a blur of black hair flew past him giggling. A rather colorful Damian pursued the blur, who Alfred had inferred as Terry, yelling various things in Romanian, Arabic, and English. Dick walked up the staircase before being tackled by a toddler sized projectile knocking the wind out of him.

"Terry?" Dick looked at the sheepish three year old when Damian's voice echoed through the hall.

"Terry! Te puţin Bozo! Vino înapoi aici!" (1) _You little Bozo! Come back here!_ Dick looked confused as the four year old stalked through the hall. On any other day a marker-covered Damian would have Dick rolling on the floor laughing his heart out, but today he was not Dick Grayson. He was a boy whose life had shattered on this day. With a heavy sigh he picked up Terry who was giggling like a mad person and Damian before heading to their bedroom. Dick dumped the youngest Wayne on to his bed making him bounce into the air. Terry squealed in happiness as he flew through the air and flipped backwards to land back on his feet. Damian just sighed and grabbed the smaller child into a headlock. "Ceea ce este greşită cu tine?" (2) _What is wrong with you?_ Terry's only reply was to laugh loudly and hug his brother.

"Aveţi nevoie sa zambesti mai mult, frate, ca Dickie. " (3) _You need to smile more, brother, like Dickie._ Dick smiled slightly as he listened to his younger siblings' conversation before remembering his only remaining blood relative didn't want him to remember her as a part of his family. Dick's smile quickly traveled south as his depression worsened from his thoughts alerting Terry. The small toddler looked over at his brother carefully before rushing over the massive king-sized bed to his pillow where a chibi bat laid. As quickly as he went over there Terry came back and pushed his beloved stuffed animal into Dick's arms. Dick stared at the bat in confusion as Damian rolled his eyes and pressed one of the ears. A guitar strummed through the room as a familiar tune washed over Dick.

_~ I remember tears streaming down your face~_

_~When I said, "I'll never let you go~_

Damian curled up around a pillow as the song lulled him into a quiet stupor, calming him. Terry had crawled into Dick's lap to listen with his stunned brother. Said boy was being pulled back into his memories trying to figure out the reason behind the lyrics.

_~When all those shadows almost killed your light~  
~I remember you said, "Don't leave me here alone"~  
~But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight~  
_

"_Hey! Frate, hai să joace ascundă şi să caute!"(4) _Brother, let's play hide and seek! _A small five year old Sophia grabbed her brother's arm as they raced to the Big Top. "Revedere, maică!" _Bye, mommy! _Mary Grayson stared back at her energetic offspring as they waved frantically before tumbling the rest of the way to the center ring._

"_Speak English, my little birds! English!" She laughed when she felt a presence behind her._

"_Ah let them speak Romanian, Mary. Kids these days tend to forget their roots." The mother turned to see a smiling ring master staring after her children. She sighed before smiling back._

"_They need the practice, Mr. Haley." John came up behind the two. _

"_John as I have told you many times, call me Jack. We're practically family, here. And besides once their schooling picks up you'll wish they spoke more of their original language." The adults laughed while the children squealed with joy inside the tent. _

"_Dickie! I made a …saa.. sonk… o melodie! Listen!" _A song! _The young Grayson listened as his sister sang her sad melody surprisingly well, in English no less. _

"_Minunat,_ _soră." (5)_ Beautiful, sister._ Dick clapped. "It sad, though." His sister just shrugged._

"_It pretty, da?"_

"_Da. Meu favorit." _Yes, my favorite._ Sophia's face lit up with pride before they continued practicing their tricks though to them it was more of a game than anything else._

_~Don't you dare look out your __window__ darling~  
~Everything's on fire~  
~The war outside our door keeps raging on~  
~Hold on to this lullaby~  
~Even when the music's gone~  
~Gone~  
_

Dick remembered the same song when he was in Gotham City for the first time when he was unaware of his missing twin. Right before meeting Zucco, he heard a small voice behind one of the elephant cages. He had gone over to investigate the eerily familiar song when he bumped into the mobster.

_~Just close your eyes~  
~The sun is going down~  
~You'll be alright~  
~No one can hurt you now~  
~Come morning light~  
~You and I'll be safe and sound~  
_

When the song finished Dick found a wide eyed Tim staring back at him. "Tim? What are you doing out of bed?"

"I heard the song before. I thought… I thought she was…" Dick stared in confusion at his brother before a thought dawned on him.

"You've heard this? When? Where? By who?" He jumped off the bed causing the sleepy Terry to fly into his other sibling. Damian grunted from the extra weight while Tim looked at the floor.

"Drake, go back to your bed before I bite your legs off." Damian growled at his injured brother. Though he would never admit it out loud, Damian had developed a level of respect for the Wayne family's middle child. Tim looked pained as the stitches pulled causing alarm to the other siblings. Dick reluctantly carried the injured Bat back to his room with two stragglers following his heels. Once back in his bed Tim let out a pained sigh while Dick just seemed more torn.

"Tuesday… No, Saturday, when we went to the mall and you guys ditched me."

"We said we were sor…" Dick began before Tim's hand stopped him.

"Like I was saying. On Saturday I ran into some trouble with a few goons…"

"What?" Dick exclaimed.

"Shut up! If you wanted to hear the story than don't interrupt!" Tim yelled before clutching his chest and breathed slowly to ease the pain. "Anyways, I met this girl who defended me from those guys. She had this weird control over them. When she spoke it was like you had to obey her. She ordered the men to turn themselves in, and they did! Then she sang that song to calm me down. She was a total mute again after that though. Refused to speak, normally, like it'd hurt her or something… now would be great commenting time."

"Normally? How do you speak differently? What did she look like?"

"Well it was like she spoke to you but in your head, like a psychic, and she had these strange tattoos around her eyes which were blue like yours, and …"

"Why the hell did no one wake me up!" The eldest brother bellowed through the halls running into Tim's room most likely after realizing Dick wasn't in his. "Oh hey Timmy how you holding?"

"School was cancelled." Dick stated monotonously.

"I'm fine, really, guys." Tim said at the same time. Jason took a moment to hear both of them before fist pumping the air.

"Woo! No AP Physics test for the Jay man!" The brothers looked at their eldest with skeptical gazes.

"And we're supposed to look up to this guy?" Dick tsked as the other boys giggled.

"Gee, thanks." Jason deadpanned. "So what are we doing today?"

"You are taking these two," Dick shoved the youngest Waynes into the eldest's arm, "to the park, Bruce's orders." Jason rubbed his face grudgingly while an eager Terry bounced around and stoic Damian waited.

"Park! Park! Vom merge în parc!" (6) _We're going to the park!_ Terry squealed while climbing his brother.

"Get off, Terry!" Damian groaned as he fell to the floor from the extra weight. "Stop speaking Romanian!"

"Nu! Îmi place să vorbesc română mai bine decât limba engleză pentru că maică ne-a învăţat!"(7) _No! I like speaking Romanian better than English because mommy taught us!_ Dick stiffened at the mention of his sister again.

"Hey Dick," Tim coughed out while lying on his pillows. Dick turned his head towards his brother.

"What?"

"You didn't hear the reason why she said what she said to Damian you know."

"What's there to hear? She didn't want me to remember that she's my sister, what more could there possibly be to that?"

"Well, she only said that because she didn't want to ruin your happiness by knowing she was still out there alone because she knew you'd feel guilty." Dick opened his mouth before closing it in realization that it was true. Ever since he found out about his sister, he felt immense guilt by having his brothers surrounding him while she had no one, and the fact that she was with the League of Shadows didn't ease the guilt any less. "Even after seven years, she said you'd still be the same brother she's known, even after your parents' death." Damian continued to explain while Dick just wanted to go to the Cave to think. "She thought of everything, Grayson, even on how to explain all this to you. She said, 'let him soak in the information. He'll probably want to do some aerial stunts to think.' And I'm guessing that means you'd like to go now right?" Dick, Jason, and Tim looked in shock at their younger brother's explanation and the girl's foresight. The family fell into silence.

"When we go to park?" Terry's upside-down face met Jason's as he draped himself over the sixteen year old's head with his legs standing on his shoulders. Jason groaned slightly before lifting the hyperactive child off his head.

"After breakfast, Little T." Terry flipped out of Jason's hands and landed on top of Damian who just rolled his eyes when he finished face planting the carpet. The able-bodied boys walked to the kitchen where Alfred had just finished making pancakes. Dick disappeared to the Cave's gym where his aerial rope course hanged over the entire cavern. Alfred went to check on Tim with his breakfast in hand.

* * *

**Gotham City**

**Wayne Enterprises (8:10 A.M)**

Outside the famous company a lone figure stood beside the entrance's shrubs shivering in her water logged clothes. She watched as the business personnel walked pass her completely oblivious. She sighed as she leaned against the wall facing the sun. It was an unnaturally warm day and she had hoped with all the reflective panels on the building behind her, her clothes would dry faster. The freak shower left her completely drenched and she didn't want to spend Paula's money if possible. Her clothes had dried considerably within the half hour she had arrived but her hair still retained enough water to keep Aquaman hydrated for a few hours. Sighing she decided to set up her guitar here before the guards noticed her.

_~When I was younger~_

_~I knew you'd always catch me~_

_~But now you're gone and I'm alone~_

_~Don't worry about me though~_

_~I'll be strong~_

_~Your words will keep me up~_

_~No matter where I am~_

_~No matter where you go~_

_~We'll be there for each other~_

_~Physically, I see no one around~_

_~Mentally, I'm unraveling at the seams~_

_~But you won't find me hiding~_

_~I'll be strong~_

Sophia drew a shaky breath when her song finished unaware of the security guards behind her with eyes gleaming or the small pile of money in her case.

"Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the premises." One of the guards coughed out wiping away a stray tear. Sophia simply bowed her head and packed up. Without another word the emotionally moved guards watched the nomadic girl blend into the early morning crowd.

"What's going on here?" A slightly gruff voice asked behind the guards. Said guards turned to see their employer standing with a charming smile.

"Mr. Wayne! We were just…"

"Giving a girl some directions." The guards stammered for some strange reason. "Nothing to worry about, sir."

"I keep telling you guys to stop calling me, sir. I'm not a general or anything." Bruce turned and walked back into the building.

* * *

**Gotham City**

**Ravenswood Park (9:02 A.M)**

"Terry! Slow down!" Jason called after the hyperactive child while carrying Damian on his back. The trio of boys had been at the park for little over an hour now and Jason was already more exhausted than if he had gone on patrol. The kid ran from one side of the playground to the other with enough energy of a hyped up speedster. Every once in awhile Damian would join in chasing the blur of his brother before tiring out as well. "How in the world, does he still have energy?" Jason gasped for air after the fifteenth run across the park. They eventually found themselves back at the entrance of the park signaling the end of the park visit. Within seconds Terry spotted an ice cream parlor and dragged his brothers towards the shop. Jason sighed and threw the boy over his shoulder walking away from the store with Damian holding his hand.

"It's morning, Little T. Ice cream is for after lunch."

"But Jay…!" The toddler whined to deaf ears.

"It'll make your teeth rot out of your head." Jason replied. "Then you'll be like Old Man Jenkins." The sixteen year old wrapped his lips over his teeth to cover them forming a toothless smile. Terry yelped in horror at the thought of his teeth falling out.

"I'll never have ice cream again!" Damian just rolled his eyes at his brother's naivety. Their older brother chuckled and let Terry walk on his own next to Damian. The two younger brothers held hands while waiting at a traffic light. The trio waited in front of the group of people wanting to cross the busy street. Damian and Jason were talking about some video Dick had shown them when Terry sprinted into the street with a cry.

"Maică!" Terry shouted as he ran towards a girl with a guitar case strapped to her back also waiting for the walk signal to come on before he tripped in the middle. Damian sprinted after his impulsive brother after noticing his hand missing from his own. He scolded his brother while pulling him to his feet. The crowd looked in horror as a speeding truck came around the corner towards the two children.

"_**Terry! Damian!**_"

* * *

**Gotham City**

**The streets**

"Lady Talia, I'm not picking up the signal anymore. Perhaps she's left the state?" A meek man cowered in front of the assassin gazing fiercely at him.

"Impossible, her little brats are here and since she's taken on the roll of motherhood she will stay near them. She will have to speak eventually. Keep looking." Seconds later a mechanical beeping resounded through the armored truck. "We'll see each other soon, my pet."

* * *

Jason just gaped at the scene before him before snapping out of it when he heard the truck's horn. The girl sprinted to the fallen children as the truck drew nearer. Screams from the driver indicated a malfunction in the engine meaning the truck was out of control. Sophia grabbed Damian and threw him back towards Jason who was running towards them. Completely caught off guard, the sixteen year old fell backwards when his brother collided with him successfully knocking the air out of his lungs.

Sophia then launched Terry after his brother just as the truck surged at them. The crowd watched with a bated breath as Sophia jumped up into the air hoping to hop onto the truck's hood, but instead, her ankle was caught sending her flipping through the air. She twisted herself and her guitar into a back flip while grabbing hidden pins from her guitar straps and throwing them at the screeching tires. Immediately upon impact the pins pierced the rubber tires and successfully popping them allowing the truck to slow to a stop. The crowd cheered when she limped into view. Jason had finally regained himself after the second child projectile knocked him and Damian over. Said boys quickly gathered themselves up before rushing into the open arms of their mother.

Jason never knew Damian could show that many emotion in a minute. Terry was speaking rapid fire in Romanian while Sophia smiled brightly at the boys.

"_**Let's go to the sidewalk.**_" She ushered the young children back to safety all the while looking around her, cringing ever so slightly. Damian's face was split in two as he walked back over to a surprised Jason. "_**Never do that again, do you hear me, Terrance Kyle Wayne?**_" Terry hanged his head in shame as he was handed back to Jason. Jason watched as the girl before him contorted in pain when two strong men came up behind her.

"Hey what are you doing?" Jason set the frightened Terry next to a very wide eyed Damian. Jason lunged for the men as they dragged Sophia to an opened army green van only to be struck with a taser. He could see Talia's eyes glitter with anticipation as the girl was thrown into the vehicle, eyes wide with fear, before the door slammed shut and the vehicle sped away. Jason reached out for her from his prone position on the ground, but it was too late. The truck, Talia, and a soon to be tortured girl were gone. All that remained was Sophia's faded blue guitar case lying on its side from when it was tossed aside. The crowd witnessing the ordeal were putting away their cameras or calling their friends to recap the events that they saw.

"Dammit!" Jason pounded the asphalt in a fit of anger while Terry and Damian slumped to the ground staring blankly at the spot where Sophia was kidnapped, tears rolling down both boys' faces.

* * *

"Now, my pet, I think we need to clip your wings again. A quick dip in the Lazarus Pit will do wonders for you." Sophia tried to suppress her fear, tried being the emphasized word. The green van rolled through Gotham's streets to an abandoned warehouse. The former circus performer pulled against her restraints as the entourage walked towards an army grade black helicopter. She was thrown into the cabin and situated between two men facing her former master. The ravenette opened her mouth but was quickly halted when she felt something attach to her back. Her spine arched as a giant surge of electricity coursed through her veins.

What?

"That my dear, is a very early prototype of a musculoskeletal inhibitor cell block." Sophia's eyes widened even more.

No…

"Oh yes my pet, I have the ability to control your movements with just a button. Every time I press these buttons," She held out a remote with a black button and a red button. "I can see and hear everything you do but my favorite is that I can send enough electricity to your body to inhibit a tiger. Let's try it, shall we?" Screams of agony pierced the morning sky as the group headed out to the desert.

* * *

A/N: Yea it sucked didn't it... In case you were wondering the translations were right after the phrases since there were so many. Please review! Please! My partial lack of motivation is from not getting reviews.


	13. Chapter 10

A/N: Hey I reread this chapter and thought it was lacking a bit so I edited it a bit :3 Thanks for reading! Be sure to review!

* * *

**Arabian Desert (Yesterday)**

**Crossed the International Dateline (3:23 P.M)**

The sound from the helicopter propellers thundered in the silent passenger area while all eyes were set before the tall Arabian woman. Talia looked out the window, her eyes shining with sadistic glee when she spotted the lone cave in the vast sand dunes.

"Look my pet, your favorite place on Earth." Sophia refused to look up from the metal floor, her hands gripping her knees tightly to stop her trembling from showing. "We come so often. It's amazing what my sister did, making these pits reusable." Talia sighed in content as the helicopter descended to the sandy ground below. Just as the doors slid open Talia's side pocket rang urgently. Sophia prayed to the heavens for some sort of mercy. "Hello? … What? Those imbeciles? I thought I made my opinion clear about them… Then why send them at all? ... Two days ago? … They are the most unreliable, insufferable… That was a bull headed decision… You're impossible! ... I'm sorry I did not mean to disrespect… Yes, my team will be on our way, father." Talia shrieked in frustration as she tossed her phone to the ground, shattering the screen entirely while she stomped around kicking and screaming curses. The others waited for their leader to recompose herself while Sophia tried desperately to twist free of her bonds silently thanking whoever heard her pleas. Her actions stopped immediately as the infuriated Arabian stormed up to her.

"Count your lucky stars, my pet. Your retraining will have to wait. We have a mission." The team loaded the helicopter once more becoming airborne. The pilot spoke something in his microphone to Talia who gripped her head with frustration and responded with a curt, "fine." An hour later the helicopter landed in a remote air field next to a waiting military transport aircraft. The team transferred transportation, loading into the cargo storage where they found it to be remodeled for human occupancy. Along the sides were benches to sit on and a small kitchenette in the far corner to eat at. In the center was a ringed platform similar to a wrestling ring. A changing area was marked off with curtains for uniform dressing. Sophia was about to sit at one of the benches when she felt a push into the curtained room.

"We can't have you giving yourself away again. I'm sure you'd like to see a familiar face." Talia's voice cackled around her ears as she stared in horror at the limp body before her. _No, it can't be_! Sophia backed into one of the corners of the fabric-made room. _I burned it! Why?_ She choked out a sound between a sob and a scream.

"Don't you love it? We had it remade since your last one mysteriously vanished. Hurry up and try it on before I come in there to help." Sophia remained silent, fear etched on her face as she stared into the face mask of Black Cardinal. The empty eye holes seemed to cackle hysterically with glee at the return of their former hostage as the cargo plane took off down the runway.

* * *

**Happy Harbor (Yesterday)**

**Mount Justice (10:45 A.M)**

"The League apprehended four operatives from the League of Shadows two days ago at S.T.A.R Labs for biological research and technology in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At this moment in time their objective remains unclear; however, the Shadows always have a standby team waiting if the mission fails, to finish the job. This is why the six of you will be going in to do reconnaissance." Batman's gravelly voice resounded through the debriefing room as the six young heroes watched the holographic screens showing the mission's detail. "The League also believes that this girl," a picture of a young nine year old girl wearing black clothing pulled up onto the screen. She had a black, Kevlar-lined, hooded tunic that came down to her upper thigh with two utility belts strapped across her shoulder and waist. Twin knife holders were attached above her knees, a third up her small thighs. Her feet were covered with black steel-toed boots, but the most notable about her was at the top of her body. Her mouth and nose were covered with what seemed to be the lower part of a ninja mask, a large red X laid in the position of her mouth. The mask continued up her face leaving only two, large, diamond, cut outs for her eyes (A/N: Like Artemis's mask only the mouth is covered and her eye holes are larger). From her two pigtails were four thin feathers. The girl had the bluest eyes the team had ever seen, well most of them anyways.

"Her alias is the Black Cardinal. This picture was taken four years ago. She was also known to the world as Black Diamond later; so through the face altering program this is what she will look like now." Sophia's face popped up onto the screen making a certain bird tense with a mixture of emotions. The picture still had his sister in her Black Cardinal outfit but her hair was longer, and at the corner of her eyes were two distinct tattoos that made Robin grit his teeth. Under her left eye was a red X flanked by two, smaller, black diamonds while her right eye had a Black diamond in the center with two smaller red X's next to it. Subconsciously, Dick rubbed his left shoulder where his cape covered. M'gann looked over at the youngest hero in confusion as she felt waves of emotion roll off of the boy but returned her attention to Batman. "She is highly trained in stealth and assassination. The League does not have enough data on her to give you a full profile but be on guard at all times. Do not engage with her in battle under any circumstances, understood?" The team nodded. Kaldur looked at the holographic tablet.

"Coordinates acquired. We will leave immediately." The team packed up their things when Kaldur remembered he had left his water bearers on the kitchen counter. When he picked them up a small cylindrical item rolled to the floor. Curious Kaldur grabbed the vial and read the label as he went to the bioship. – _No. 00021340-784. Date: 03/21/2010. R. Grayson. 1007 Mountain Drive Gotham, US 02137. Take when undergoing anaphylactic seizure. Epinephrine. Use before 04/21/2010._ – _Who is R. Grayson_? Kaldur thought to himself as he sat down in front of the bioship. He ran through the possibilities of heroes present at the Cave as he strapped into his seat. He looked at the team behind him and saw Robin. _Robin! That must be what the R stands for… right? I will have to ask him after the mission._

* * *

**S.T.A.R Labs for Biological Research and Technology (Yesterday)**

**Tulsa, Oklahoma (8:50 A.M)**

"Approaching destination. ETA two minutes." M'gann's voice echoed in the ship. As the bioship hovered over the fence the occupants slipped out from a portal on the underside, dropping silently to run to the entrance. "_**Is everyone linked up?**_"

"_**I'm here.**_" Artemis stated first.

"_**Here**_" Connor answered.

"_**What's up everyone?**_" Wally struck a superhero pose. (A/N: It's funny cuz he's a super hero… okay just keep reading.)

"_**I am online.**_" Kaldur looked around for the youngest member only to find him gone again. Wally noticed as well and groaned.

"_**I thought we told him not to do that anymore!**_"

"_**Chill, KF, just needed to hack the security codes. We're in, let's go!**_" Robin's signature cackle rose through the air. The rest of the team just sighed at the bird's antics before following in through a loading dock at the side of the building. Inside the team immediately found themselves in a storage facility of some sort and went to the various support beams above the floor for a clearer vantage point. In the morning light their figures were covered so that anyone who looked up only got a face full of sun. They split into two groups to run along the beams to where the villains were. Artemis, Robin, and Aqualad took off to the center of activity while Miss Martian, Superboy, and Kid Flash snuck off the beams to the ground for a ground view.

"_**Can you guys see what they're stealing?**_" Robin asked as he watched forklifts move crates of material into an armored truck. KF placed his goggles over his eyes to magnify the labels. Even with the extra help he couldn't read the small print.

"_**It says Low Thermal Conductivity Insulation but I can't see the small print.**_"

"_**That's fine, but the stuff they're transporting, not so much. With that much insulation they could plant a bomb under any building and the bomb squad wouldn't be able to detect it in time.**_" The team gazed at the large crates with new found determination.

"_**We can't let them have it then.**_" Connor growled before stepping out of his hiding place.

"_**Connor, no!**_" M'gann yelled to no avail as the Superman clone charged the armored truck.

"_**We can never do this the easy way, can we?**_" Artemis face palmed while ducking a stray bullet.

"_**Well there's no helping it now. Come on!**_" Robin and Aqualad jumped down on top of two thugs shooting at Superboy. Kid Flash already took most of the guns from the men. Artemis looked around with her bow aimed to shoot when a hard kick pushed her off the beams. The archer flipped in order for her to land on her feet. She let loose an arrow at the hidden shadow barely missed hitting its shoulder. Another villain came up behind her only to get an arrow blown up at his feet. The hidden shadow flew down to the fights and struck Wally from behind on the neck successfully rendering him unconscious. The figure moved silently behind the towers of boxes to M'gann who was levitating boxes and throwing them at the enemy. With only a second to sense the figure's presence M'gann quickly fell to the floor from a blow to the back.

"_**M'gann!**_" Superboy rushed over to his girlfriend and struck out at the figure causing it to crash backwards into the boxes. A small feminine grunt responded as she pulled large wooden splinters from her arms. Connor's eyes narrowed when Black Cardinal stepped into view. The girl moved in an almost a robotic fashion her joints moving stiffly. She was obviously hurt from the fall with blood dripping from her arms and legs, but she didn't show it. "_**Guys I found Black Cardinal.**_"

"_**What? Never mind. Do not engage, Superboy, I repeat do not engage.**_" Robin's almost frantic voice ran over the mind link.

"_**Too late. She hurt M'gann.**_" Connor roared as he leapt towards the girl.

"_**Superboy!**_" Robin finished knocking out his foes before running towards his sister. He watched in horror as Connor flung her across the room making her fall into an empty storage crate splintering the wood to embed into her back and legs. There was a distinct crack of bone as she crumpled onto the concrete floor. She struggled to her feet seconds later shaking violently but proceeded to grab her twin blades from the knife holders flying towards the Boy of Steel. Black Cardinal was once again flung backwards but with an explosive arrow. Artemis looked like she was going into shock when she saw the young girl sprawled on the floor, gripping the remains of the arrow, gasping for air. Wally slowly woke up and ran over to see what the team was surrounding. Mysteriously the girl continued to rise despite her evident injuries. Kaldur snuck up behind her only to find a foot flying towards his face. He dodged it easily and followed with a quick rabbit punch to her gut making her gasp for air. Wally saw her before looking at the distracted brother. Robin tried to think of a way to stop his team from damaging his sister even more when Kaldur slumped to the floor onto his knees. Sophia, no, Black Cardinal stood before the Atlantian with her blades posed at his throat when two bird-a-rangs knocked them out of her hands. Her masked face turned automatically towards her brother, the only clue that it was indeed his sister glistened with unshed tears as her arm mechanically reached behind her to pull out a katana. _Run._ They seemed to say. _Please run away now!_ Robin's eyes widened as his sister lunged towards him with her sword posed to go through his chest.

The Boy Wonder disappeared into the shadows leaving his sister to look around and face Wally instead. Robin quickly went to Miss Martian who had recovered from her blow. "_**Miss M, can you go into Black Cardinal's mind? I think there's someone controlling her.**_"

"_**I can try but I'm still a little foggy from my fall.**_" M'gann's eyes glowed green as she entered Sophia's mind. Brief images floated across her vision making her almost gag from the horrendous nature of them. Sophia immediately felt her presence and tried to push her out.

"_What are you doing? You mustn't be here! Please go! You don't want to be in here when…_" Sophia and M'gann screamed as electricity coursed through Sophia's body. With one last push, Sophia kicked M'gann out of her mind saving the Martian from any further pain. M'gann curled up in a ball and began to rock back and forth trying to erase the images from her memory.

"_**Miss Martian, are you alright? What did you see?**_" Kaldur snuck over to the frightened alien.

"_**She's gone through so much, too much. So much pain, she's so young; yet she's been through that much. They've been torturing her!**_" M'gann collapsed from the overload of gruesome images alarming Connor who hadn't been listening. Robin and Artemis tensed with anger and watched the screaming girl quiet down. The girl's breath came in shallow breaths as she tried to recover. Unnaturally Sophia rose to her feet once more and quickly rushed her brother and best friend. With two jabs to the solar plexus, Robin gasped for air and fell to the floor but not before seeing the guilt behind identical blue eyes. As they stared at each other another jolt of electricity flowed through her body making her give a quick chop to the hero's neck knocking him unconscious before turning away from him and continuing onto Artemis. She landed a hard kick to the stomach causing the archer to slam her head back against a tower of crates. Kaldur and Superboy lunged for her with Superboy reaching her first only to punch her in the face with so much force she flew back to Kid Flash who was just now getting up from his previous hit, fifteen feet away.

"Wha…?" Wally muttered before he saw Sophia lying on the floor with a black eye forming and bleeding from the nose as she sputtered under her mask. She pulled the lower part of her mask off to release the excess blood from cutting off her air way. Blood flowed down her mouth and onto the concrete floor. "Are you… Blood!" Kid Flash immediately ran away from her before passing out next to the statue that used to be Robin from the sight of blood. Sophia wiped her face and grunted as she once again got to her feet after being on the receiving end of a Kryptonian punch. Connor couldn't believe his eyes. Normally, his punches would knock out a man pumped up with Kobra Venom unconscious; so seeing a small girl who couldn't be that much older than Robin rise after so many punches was miraculous to say the least.

"_**Connor, stop!**_" M'gann's voice echoed through his skull.

"_**But she hurt you.**_" He looked over at his girlfriend who had awoken once more. Her eyes pleaded him to stop.

"_**She's not doing this on her own. She's being controlled somehow.**_"

"_**What?**_" Connor stared at M'gann when a swift, very hard, kick smashed into his jaw. He whirled around to see an airborne Black Cardinal flying towards him again. He grabbed her extended foot and tossed her over to Kaldur who caught her in a full Nelson hold (A/N: Like when Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin first met Superboy and Aqualad tried to subdue him.) His eel tattoos sent electricity straight into her back. Sophia screamed to inaudible – if you didn't have super hearing of course because then it would be unbearably painful – levels as the metal plate attached to her back began to burn under the excess energy. Aqualad finally released his hold after what seemed to be forever dropping her to the cold floor. She breathed out in pain as control finally returned to her. The truck behind the trio (A/N: Aqualad, Superboy, and Black Cardinal in case you were confused) revved into life and began to pull away towards the exit behind Robin and Kid Flash who were a good twenty feet away from the group.

"_**No**_," Sophia pushed herself up once more through sheer will power and sped after the moving vehicle where the back door of the truck opened, gun fire erupting out of the vehicle. She saw Talia glare maliciously in the far corner of the truck's container. The truck had just passed the two motionless boys when it hit a stray piece of broken crate making a box fall out of the back and explode before them. Sophia gasped in horror as she lunged in front of Robin just as a giant cloud of powder flew towards them effectively covering her entire front half and directly entering her airways. The truck revved away leaving a stunned Kid Flash, a coughing Robin, and a gasping Black Cardinal. Robin's coughing and Black Cardinal's gasping began to increase to alarming rates. Kid Flash immediately recognized the symptoms of an oncoming anaphylactic seizure from his best friend.

"Where's your pen?" He shouted to the boy as his airway began to squeeze shut. Robin searched his belt frantically and began to sway from lack of oxygen. The two boys immediately remembered the macaroon incident and the pen's location. "It's still at the Cave! Whatdowedo? Whatdowedo?" Wally began to rub his head frantically trying to think of some way to save his friend completely ignoring the equally if not faster dying girl laying a few inches away from her brother. Black Cardinal reached into her pocket and pulled out a similar pen before plunging it into her younger twin's thigh. The effects were almost instant as Robin began to breathe again, but passed out from the extended air loss.

The rest of the team huddled around the trio before a frantic Artemis pushed through to her best friend who was slowly beginning to turn purple. The archer slumped next to the small bluing girl

"Phi! Where's your pen?" She screamed only to receive a shaky point at Robin's thigh. "No! Why would you do that? You can't die here! What about your brother?"

"Artemis, do you know this girl?" Artemis stiffened as Kaldur approached her while the rest of the team looked at her expectantly, well not Robin of course, before giving a nod. Kaldur looked at the pen in Robin's thigh and remembered the identical pen in his pocket. He pulled it out only to have it snatched out of his hands by a surprised archer who plunged the pen into the young ex-assassin's thigh. The purple turned to a light blue as oxygen returned to Sophia's body but the medication was not enough for her because her exposure was far greater. Just as her airway closed again, Batman emerged from nowhere and stabbed a second dose of the medication into her. Without another word the League showed up with the two Green Lanterns holding the armored truck in a giant green bubble. Talia was nowhere to be seen.

"Miss Martian, call the bioship and return back to the Cave." Batman ordered as he lifted his protégé from the floor while Wonder Woman lifted the former Shadows operative.

"These two need medical attention, A.S.A.P, Batman." Flash quipped as he looked at the girl's bluing face again. Batman nodded and the heroes immediately rushed back to the Cave while the Green Lanterns carried the villains away to a holding facility.

* * *

**Gotham City (Yesterday)**

**Wayne Manor (2:32 P.M)**

"So you're saying that the girl I met at Ravenswood is Dickie's long lost twin sister and she raised Damian and Terry since they were born? Come on that's impossible… right? And what are you doing out of bed?" Jason had just returned with the distraught toddlers where Tim was waiting in the living room. Jason had told Tim to look up the mysterious guitar girl who had saved their youngest siblings from being road kill. When Tim heard his description he immediately pulled up Bruce's file that he had hacked into earlier.

"It's all right here! And I'm bored staring at an empty window. Besides she seemed strange to you right? She sang but when she spoke it was like she was speaking through your mind wasn't it?" Jason nodded slowly.

"How do you…?" Damian snuggled closer to the eldest having just fallen asleep from the excess tearing. Terry was sleeping next to Tim with his chibi bat in a death grip.

"I've met her before too. She saved me when you jerks forgot about me at the mall."

"We apologized already!" Jason jumped at the sound of his phone ringing promptly waking the two toddlers. "Hello? … What? He had a what? … But why would he touch it if he knew he was allergic? … Yes we'll be there." Jason terminated the call and looked at his brothers who stared at him with curious gazes. "Dickie had another seizure. He just woke up and wants to see us. Tim, I don't know how you will be able to go… and we'll need disguises for you too."

"Jay, how do you think I got down here?" Tim revealed a narrow wheelchair that had a controller attached to the side. "I'll go on this."

"Alright then, let's go get you, three, some disguises."

* * *

**Happy Harbor (Yesterday)**

**Mount Justice (3:12 P.M)**

"She had four broken ribs; a broken femur; a fractured ulna; three broken fingers; burns to her upper to mid back; lacerations fresh and old covering her arms, torso, legs, and back…" Black Canary listed off the extensive injuries as Dick watched behind an inch thick wall of Plexiglas as his long lost twin floated in a saline tub due to the severity of her injuries. The team was looking at a far distance while their own injuries were tended to by the Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman. Batman was talking to Flash and Superman discussing the best way to handle the situation. Artemis came up to the window and looked with watery eyes.

"How do you know her?" Robin broke the silence first. Artemis seemed surprised by the bird's sudden dialogue. Batman's protégé hadn't spoken a word since he came to when his mentor laid him down onto one of the medical bay's white beds.

"She was… umm… I met her at…" Artemis couldn't think of a way to explain her friendship to the young bird without exposing herself, but seeing as she had been waiting to muster up the courage to reveal her origins, she found the opportunity present itself. She spoke to Green Arrow, Batman, and Black Canary several times before on the matter but the responsibility on executing the plan laid in her hands. By now the entire team was bandaged and waiting to hear Artemis's answer. She sighed and pulled up a holographic screen on the Plexiglas with pictures of Cheshire, Sportsmaster, and Huntress. Batman and Green Arrow gave her a small nod in encouragement as she began to talk, "Well Superboy isn't the only one suffering from bad DNA. My mother is Huntress, an ex-con. And the rest of my family aren't even ex. My dad's Sportsmaster. And you've met my sister, Cheshire. We worked for the League of Shadows for about two years before my dad found another job, stateside. The girl behind me was, is, my best friend from the time I was living with the Shadows. I didn't want to tell you guys about them. I was afraid of what you would think of me afterwards." Black Canary stood next to her and lent her a supporting hand.

Her teammates looked at her with mixed emotions before Wally came up to her and hugged her.

"You're silly. We've been on a team now for what? Eight months now? And that's just it, we're a team." Artemis cried into the speedster's shoulder quietly as the rest of the teens patted her back.

"They grow up so fast." Flash faked a tear only to receive a punch in the arm from Green Arrow. Robin looked over to Batman who sensed the pleading look behind the domino mask. Batman was about to give his answer when the Zeta tubes activated, announcing guests.

"Recognize Black Falcon C03. Recognize Red Robin B20. Recognize Jay C05. Recognize Oriole F01." The entire Cave turned their attention to the new arrivals. Batman almost groaned – almost, meaning he didn't cuz he's Batman – when he saw what his younger boys were wearing. Tim had a black cowl over his head making him seem completely bald with a red body sitting in a narrow wheelchair while the other two wore identical jump suits. Terry sported a bright yellow and black one while Damian wore a gray and navy blue one, each with a Batman symbol blazoned across the back.

"Who are they?" M'gann asked innocently while Kid Flash stifled his laughter and Robin face palmed.

"Dickie!" Terry squealed when he saw his masked brother before covering his mouth at his mistake, making the Boy Wonder groan and look over to Batman.

"Dickie? Is that your actual name?" Artemis asked this time with an almost teasing manner. Kid Flash looked like he was about to bust a gut as he held in his mirth. Batman sighed and nodded to his protégé while giving Jason the infamous Batglare, though having lived with it for so long the sixteen year old had become immune to its terrifying effects. Said teenaged vigilante shrugged and waved to his younger brother.

"My name's Richard, actually. Dickie is my nickname for my brothers and sister, only." He glared at the team with his own modified Batglare before peeling his mask away from his face. "My name's Richard Grayson, but I go by Dick." Artemis gasped before socking a punch to the boy's arm. "Artemis's best friend is actually my long lost older twin sister, Sophia Grayson." The team gasped and Connor paled as he replayed his actions from the Lab in his head while he decided to stay in the back as far from the young bird as possible.

"You little brat! I sit with you every day at lunch! … No wonder you said we'd laugh about that picture! … You're Phi's brother!" Artemis gasped, a million thoughts running through her head before she remembered something and turned around to glare at Black Falcon. "And that means you're Jason! You guys are the worst!" The boys of the Bat family laughed in unison while Batman looked like he wanted to die and the other members of Justice witnessed in confusion. "Wait if all of you are heroes then that means that Batman is…" At that moment the heart rate monitor started to beep erratically alarming everyone in the Cave. Black Canary looked into the saline tub where a flailing Sophia frantically tried to find a surface to cling to.

"That's impossible!" J'onn stated. "She has enough medication to keep a polar bear asleep for two days."

M'gann slumped down in agony as waves of emotion hit her frightening everyone, especially Connor and her uncle. M'gann's eyes glowed green as she entered the scared ex-assassin. Inside she found herself in a scene she didn't think anyone could go through. Sophia was tied to a rock underwater over a glowing green pit of chemicals while a submarine floated near her, a woman wearing a light tan shirt and black pants grinning with sadistic malice. The immobilized girl had cuts bleeding out at an alarming rate drawing sharks towards the cage surrounding her and the pit. Sophia was quickly losing air and blood, her vision becoming black around the edges. M'gann knew she had to pull the girl out of her nightmare before she truly believed she died again. _You must wake up! You are safe. No one will harm you. Open your eyes!_

The younger Martian was quietly escorted out to the living room with her boyfriend and uncle. M'gann hugged herself as she recovered from the frightening sight. Sophia gasped as she looked around with panic in her eyes, her hands finally finding the edge of the tub. She realized the lack of water over her head and took giant breaths of oxygen to calm her sporadic heart. She tried to sit up in the tub but quickly realized that the bottom of the tub was a good six inches away from her feet. Sophia finally composed herself to look around the room. The first person her eyes landed on was Dick. Tears sprang from her blue eyes as the scenes replayed.

"_**Dickie?"**_ She whispered before she gasped and touched her bandaged back where a metal plate had been removed. "A dispărut! Eu pot vorbi din nou!"_ It's gone! I can speak again!_ Her eyes widened with shock and her grip slipped from the ledge. Just as she was going under two strong arms pulled her out and laid her on the medical bed beside her. Sophia looked up to see the green eyes of a certain Jason Todd. She dipped her head in thanks again since she was too shocked to speak. Dick rushed to his sister's side, tears beginning to stream down his face. The rest of the Cave occupants looked at each other before silently agreeing to let the two handle the matter. "Tu eşti aici! Eşti rănit? Îmi pare aşa de rău!" _You're here! Are you hurt? I'm so sorry!_ The twins hugged each other with tears streaming down their faces.

"I thought I'd never see you again." Sophia cupped her brother's cheek with her good hand. The Graysons spoke softly with each other before the medical bay's doors slid open and four boys rolled in towards the twins. Terry and Damian ran over each other trying to get to their mother.

"Maică! Eşti aici!"_Mommy! You're here!_ Terry exclaimed as he used Dick as a human ladder wrapping his small arms around her neck. She scooped the small toddler in her arms before opening her arms to Damian.

"Maică! Vă sunt rănit." _Mommy! You're hurt._ The stoic toddler looked at the various bandages covering the acrobat's body as he climbed into her wrapped arms.

"Sunt bine. Este okay." _I'm fine. It's okay._ She pulled her children into a giant bear hug and let her tears soak into their hair. "Have you been practicing your English?"

"Yes, mommy, we did what you told us to do." Sophia nodded in approval.

"Very good, my little bat. How about you, little tiger?"

"I have been practicing as well." Sophia laughed lightly before her chest started to hurt again, causing the Wayne brothers to panic.

"I'm fine. Thank you."

"Hey! You're voice isn't weird anymore." Tim exclaimed from his wheelchair. Sophia smiled at him even more brightly.

"Hello again. Yes, I know it isn't 'weird' anymore. I have control over it, but the Shadows don't know that. _**I can use it at any time I feel like it.**_ Or not but it was best to not speak in the Shadows." Dick stared in awe of his sister, his twin, while she interacted with the rest of his family. It was like she was always a part of the Wayne family. As the brothers talked to the rescued girl Artemis bowled through with an angry frown set on her face.

"You knew he was Robin didn't you?" Sophia returned her question with an impish smirk.

"Guilty. But check it out! I'm free! Like the Genie from Aladdin!" Artemis squealed with delight and hugged her friend. "Ari, I'm still injured you know." She gasped out.

"Ah! Right sorry. You should rest. We'll talk later." Artemis squeezed her best friend's hand before returning to the rest of the team. Sophia nodded and felt her head grow heavy.

"Wha…?"

"It's the medication coming back. Rest. We'll be here when you wake up." Dick moved the broken girl under the covers of the stark white medical sheets while the two toddlers snuggled against their mother once again. Sophia gripped her twin's hand tightly before relaxing into a medicinal induced slumber. Dick never let go of her hand for the rest of the day, even when Batman came in to tell the boys they were going home. Jason and Tim also refused to leave their brother so the Wayne family ended up staying the night in the Cave's medical bay.

"I'll never let go, again." He promised as he too fell under sleep's spell.


	14. Chapter 11

Me: Hello everyone! So as you can see I've decided to continue this story due to Stevie.x and Scoobycool9's comments. Thanks guys! :D

Kali: They have no lives which is why they're reading your story.

Me: You can insult me but don't insult the nice people of the interweb!

Sophia: Maybe if you hadn't stolen her cheesecake she wouldn't be as irritable.

Me: Hey it was my cheesecake that I bought with my money so she should just grow up. *Kali walks over and glares* I'm sorry!

Sophia: Well while they're doing that i hope you enjoy this chapter. The idiot of this story has decided to go by Angel Wings but that doesn't mean she owns anything DC comics related.

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**Happy Harbor**

**Mount Justice (8:24 A.M)**

All was quiet at the Cave, the only sound coming from some monitors in the medical bay. On medical white beds, a family of six slept. The only female in the room began to breathe in short sporadic breaths as cruel, horrendous, images flashed under her eyelids. With a quiet gasp the girl woke in a panic assessing her surroundings before feeling a heavy weight on her sides. Looking down she saw two angels snuggled against her. She smiled lovingly at the two while she stroked their hair. Sophia tested her body as she slid off the bed leaving the two boys to sleep on. She stood for a total of three seconds before pain crippled her to the floor. She released a small cry as she stretched a few stitches waking the middle child of the Wayne family.

Tim had always been a light sleeper and woke at the slightest sound. He looked up from his position on another bed to see Sophia struggling to get up. Tim pushed himself up and onto his wheelchair where he quickly rolled over to the fallen girl.

"What do you think you're doing?" He hiss-whispered trying not to awaken anyone else. Sophia glanced up at the chaired ten year old.

"Hello, Tim." She smiled cheekily like Dick would, before hissing out in pain. "Did I wake you up?"

"You're just like your brother. Never can stay still. You should be in bed." He put on his best scolding face but it only turned out to look like a pout. Sophia giggled lightly while her brother and Damian woke up.

"Sophia?" Dick swiveled his head around trying to find his twin who was still on the floor and saw Tim sitting next to the bed pouting at the floor. "Tim? Have you seen Sophia?"

"Maică?" Damian rubbed the sleep away from his eyes with his tiny fists.

"Hey, down here." Sophia's voice came from underneath. Damian crawled over his little brother kicking him in the head by accident before hanging off the edge to see his mother trying to get up. Terry continued to snore lightly. "Morning sweetie. Did you sleep well?"

"Maică, what are you doing down there?" Damian let his arms hang below his head while Sophia smiled at him. Dick pushed himself out of his chair and walked over to his sister.

"What were you thinking getting out so soon?" Dick gently laid her back onto the bed sheets noticing how light she was. "You're still recovering. I mean you're not even supposed to be up yet."

"I've had worse to wake up to, believe me. Besides, you know us Graysons can't stay still for too long." She smirked before cringing; her nose still hurt quite a bit. "That Superboy sure has a punch." Dick just shook his head at her when the doors to the medical bay opened. Batman and Martian Manhunter paused in surprise at the sight of the talking girl, Batman recovering first.

"I cannot believe this." J'onn spoke alerting the conscious children of the heroes' arrival. "You are awake."

"Alive and well, many thanks to you I assume." Sophia grinned before holding her sore nose again.

"How are you awake? There are enough pain killers to keep Flash under for at least a day." J'onn asked seeing that keeping Flash asleep from painkillers for more than an hour is a feat in itself due to his high metabolism. Sophia shrugged before cringing again.

"You need to stop moving so much." Dick commented after his sister let out another shaky breath. She just rolled her eyes which also seemed to hurt since she cringed at that too.

"I'm ADD. Bite me. You know you're like this too and don't say you're not because we both know you are." Dick sighed in defeat.

"Since you are awake," Batman finally spoke, "perhaps you can go back into the saline tank. Your wounds will heal faster in it." Sophia moved her lips to form a slanted line and nodded. She attempted to push herself up only to be picked up by her brother. She huffed indignantly while the other thirteen year old smirked.

"I have two legs. I can walk."

"Yeah, because you were doing so well before." Tim harped sarcastically. Sophia opened her mouth to say something when Dick lowered her into the saline solution. Almost instantly, the girl hissed as the liquid soaked into her hospital gown touching her wounds. Robin gritted his teeth seeing his sister so damaged but stopped when he felt a wet hand on his own. Twin blue eyes stared at each other having a silent conversation while Batman and J'onn were speaking quietly to each other. Damian decided to have fun by terrorizing Tim by flipping all over him.

I'm okay, you know. Don't beat yourself up. Dick stared at his sister, feeling her voice tickle the back of his mind. Being the twins that they were, Sophia didn't have to wait for him to pick up her special way of communication.

How are you okay? You were with the Shadows! They tortured you! You were alone! I forgot about you, twice! For seven years! How can I not feel guilty? Dick knelt beside her on the platform leading into tub with his head hanging, shameful. Sophia smiled softly as she floated on her back, her hair splayed out in a fan shape with her hands on her stomach.

It was partially my fault, you know, your amnesia. If I didn't push you so hard you wouldn't have forgotten. She sighed sadly. Dick never thought of that before. It was true that if Sophia didn't push him into the jungle gym he wouldn't have forgotten her but then again if she hadn't, he would have been captured as well and would have never met Bruce. He could never blame her. The twins sat together in comfortable silence when M'gann floated in and saw Sophia awake and smiling.

"Oh! You're awake! Hello, I'm M'gann or you can call me Megan. How are you feeling?" Sophia nearly jumped when she heard the younger Martian but settled back down when she saw who it was.

"Hello, M'gann, I'm Sophia, but you can call me Phi if you want. Thank you for saving me yesterday. I am truly sorry for what I did to you in Tulsa." M'gann shook her head to dismiss the apology.

"It's fine. I'm just glad you're okay. After what I saw I didn't know how to react but I'm glad to help." Dick looked at the two girls in confusion.

"Go rest, Dickie." Sophia suggested. "You must be sore from sleeping in a chair." Robin saw his sister's gaze of concern before talking to M'gann again. The bird shrugged before his shoulder cramped up.

"I'll just go take a shower then. I'll see you later, sis." He kissed her forehead gently before walking out of the medical bay making M'gann "aww." At that moment Damian stopped terrorizing Tim, on Bruce's orders, and woke his little brother up to walk over to their mom. M'gann noticed the two toddlers and squealed at their adorableness. Damian was in front holding his brother's small hand while Terry rubbed his bleary eyes.

"Mommy!" Damian and Terry, who finally woke up, shouted as they reached the top of the platform surprising M'gann. Sophia smiled lightly so she wouldn't disturb her facial wounds before waving at her boys.

"Hey baby. Did you sleep well, little bat?" Sophia floated over to the dangling feet of the two boys. She tickled their feet from below eliciting squeals of laughter from the two. M'gann watched in awe at the injured girl while she played with the toddlers.

"You're a mother?" M'gann asked. "Aren't you a little young? I mean I'm not accustomed to Earth's culture but…"

"You're green." Terry interrupted.

"Uh… Yes?"

"I like green." He smiled brightly at the confused Martian.

"Thank you?" Sophia giggled before tickling Terry's foot again.

"Next time, little bat; don't interrupt when people are talking. Did you say good morning to your father?" Terry and Damian jumped up and ran down to Batman before hugging his legs shouting "good morning" then running back to their mother. This confused M'gann even more.

"If you're the mother and Batman's the father… does that mean you two are married?" Sophia burst out laughing before her stitches reminded her of the reason she's floating in a tub full of saline. She wipes a tear from her eye.

"Man, I haven't had such laughed that much since I was six. That was good. No, I'm not married to Batman." Dick fell comically to the floor at his sister's comment while Tim choked on his water. Batman seemed horrified at the thought though his facial expression only twitched to a heavier frown while Jason just snored on. Damian and Terry could not see why everyone was so confused. "I'm their mother, yes, but not in what you think of as mother. I'm their adoptive mother, you could say. Batman is their real father, but I just took care of them for the first part of their lives."

"Hello Megan! Of course you're too young for that." Sophia just smiled. Batman walked up to the platform where Damian and Terry were swinging their feet above the saline.

"Boys, we have to go."

"No!" Terry shouted rustling the dead, Jason.

"Terry…" Batman warned while Damian pouted defiantly.

"I don't wanna go!" Terry cried running away. Batman sighed at his son as he tried to catch him.

"You have to go home. We need to change your clothes." Terry pulled Damian along as he ran out of Batman's reach.

"I don't wanna! Don't wanna! I want to stay with, maică!" Terry shouted before Sophia stepped in.

"Terry," She said softly, "you need to go home."

"But I wanna stay with you." Tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

"I know, baby, but mommy can't get better without a special card from her boys."

"She can't?" Terry repeated while Damian stared wide eyed at their mother's face.

"No, I can't because my boys have special card powers. But there aren't any magical things to make a card here, only gray rocks. I'm sure your father knows where there are magical things at home. Why don't you go home, take a shower, and make maică a magical card to help make her feel better?" The room waited with bated breath as Terry thought over it; Damian remained silent since he knew he was going home anyways.

"Okay, maică, I will go home and make the bestest magic card ever so you can get better." Sophia smiled and ruffled his hair making it slightly wet.

"The best, my dear. There's no such word as bestest, and I'm sure you will. You too, Damian." Damian blushed before nodding rapidly. Sophia ruffled his head as well and sent them off to Batman who seemed to thank her in his own special way. M'gann and J'onn looked at the injured girl with more respect before J'onn departed with Batman and the younger boys. Tim decided to follow as well to get his bandages refreshed.

"You were amazing! Hello Megan! She's their mom; of course she was good with them." M'gann floated over to the platform and smiled brightly at her new friend. "I'm surprised at your capacity to love them so much." She gasped and put a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry I didn't mean for that…"

"No, it's alright. Thanks. I'd be pretty surprised myself if I wasn't me either." She laughed. Dick walked up to her before sitting down. "Feel better?"

"Yeah, I almost had a heart attack at your statement though, Miss M." M'gann blushed while Sophia slapped her brother playfully though regretted it a few seconds later.

"Don't be mean."

"I'm sorry. Is there something I can do to make it better?"

"You could start by apologizing to M'gann and making me some breakfast. I'm starving." Dick smirked and apologized to the floating Martian.

"You still like pancakes, right?" With a splash Sophia flung herself to the edge of the tub making a gallon of saline flood the floor.

"Are you kidding me? I haven't had pancakes since I was six! Yes please! Oops, sorry about the water. Ouch!" Robin laughed and bent to kiss her forehead again.

"Then one serving of chocolate pancakes coming up." He flipped backwards off the platform before running to the kitchen, cackling along the way.

"You two are so cute. He's so happy right now." M'gann commented. "He's been giving off waves of depressing emotions since we came back from Geneva." Sophia looked confused before she remembered Haley's circus.

"You went to Haley's circus in Geneva then."

"How'd you…?"

"We grew up in that circus. It was where our parents died and where he forgot he had a sister." M'gann gasped in surprise.

"What?"

"It's a long story, long and painful. All in all he wasn't reminded about me until he saw the old ring master again."

"So you two grew up in the circus, that's why he wanted to go on that mission so badly! When he spoke to the ring master, he must have been told about you." Sophia nodded the best she could while floating. "Your story, you need to tell him."

"What? No! I can't." She jolted up in the water creating waves of pain to wash over her.

"Oh my gosh! Are you alright?" Sophia let out a sigh as the pain goes away before nodding. "Why not? He needs to know."

"Not now. I can't let him put more guilt on himself." Sophia looked at the ceiling.

"But you have to tell someone. I was only in your memories for a few seconds and I'm still horrified from them. I can only imagine what it's like for you." The girl sighed.

"It's not that bad…" She dropped off as she heard the doors open again.

"Hello?" Artemis asked into a seemingly empty medical bay.

"Artemis! Over here!" M'gann called out from the room where the saline tank lied. Artemis made her way over and almost collapsed when she saw Sophia's bandaged hand waving from behind the ledge of the tank.

"Phi?" She ran up to the platform. "Phi! what are you doing up already?"

"Nice to see you too, Ari." Sophia smirked. "It takes at least a tanker truck full of pain killers to keep me under for more than a day and that would kill me. What are you doing here, anyways? I mean don't you have school?"

"Some infestation closed the school down for the rest of the week. I thought I'd spend some time checking on you. Mom says hi too." Sophia laughed before coughing and cringing. Artemis panicked while M'gann floated away to find her uncle for assistance. The younger girl continued to cough before blood came out dribbling down her chin while Artemis looked around to find something to aid her. The tub started to turn red as the injured girl continued to cough up frothy blood. Artemis began to panic more while Sophia clung to the edge of the tub. Artemis ran off to another room to look for anything that could help her best friend. While the archer was gone, Sophia began to slip from the tub and went under the saline solution. She never had the chance to get a gulp of air before going under and she was still choking with no way to pull herself out. Just as panic began to set in with blackening vision Sophia felt a pull from her arms. As soon as her head broke through to air she coughed up saline and blood, feeling the effects of internal bleeding. She continued out of the water and into a bridal carry before being laid down to ease the shock.

Looking up she saw a very panicked and concerned Jason staring down at her. She swiveled her head away from Jason heaving one more cough before a shard of wood flew out and onto the floor. She breathed in heavy gulps of air as her airway cleared once more.

"Finally!" She croaked before noticing that the number of occupants had increased. She turned to Jason again wiping away some of the blood from her mouth with a sad, small smile. "You seem to always help me the most. Thank you." Jason was about to ask her something when she spotted a bulky figure trying to escape from the room. "Hello!" She smiled brightly freezing the figure in its place. "I can see you, you know. Come out here I won't bite... that much." She giggled before taking another gulp of air to ease the residual coughs. From his hiding spot Superboy emerged with a guilt-stricken expression set. "Hello, I'm Sophia. You can call me Phi." The only answer came a small head nod. "You must be Superboy. You've got an impressive punch." Connor looked shocked at the girl's comment. Who would ever compliment their primary source of injury? "I have to thank you, though." This time Jason and Artemis froze in shock. "If it weren't for you I would still have that stupid metal plate on my back, so thanks."

"No problem?" Connor hesitated. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, really. I just need some food and I'll be better by this afternoon." At that moment Dick walked in with a plate of freshly made pancakes and cranberry juice. "Pancakes!" If Artemis hadn't held the poor girl down she would have jumped out of her bandages causing alarm in the boys of the room. Dick placed the plate and glass on a tray table before wheeling it over to the excited twin. He noticed the blood stains on Sophia's gown and the bloodied wooden shard lying on the floor beside her.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine. Just needed to get that out of my system. I'll be fine once I have those in my poor hungry stomach. I haven't had anything since Wednesday's lunch at Ari's." She scarfed down the first two pancakes before choking. Artemis handed her the cranberry juice which Sophia graciously accepted before chugging the entire thing. Connor and Jason stared dumbly at the girl as she demolished her breakfast.

"I can tell. Who's Ari?" Robin looked as his sister pointed at Artemis before giving an "oh." Once the plate of chocolate goodness was demolished Batman came back along with M'gann and her uncle. M'gann floated over quickly to her boyfriend smiling lightly as they had a silent conversation. J'onn examined Sophia who assured him that she was fine.

"I'd like more pancakes though." She grinned sheepishly. Dick sighed light heartedly before walking out past his father who gave him a good morning nod while Jason followed him to help.

"I need to talk to Sophia alone." Batman said making the teens walk out while J'onn continued his examination of the injured. Sophia smiled reassuringly at Artemis as she walked out of the medical bay. Once the Young Justice members were out of the room Sophia sighed heavily.

"I'm guessing you want to talk about this whole situation." Batman nodded. "My story is a rather long one, just so you know. A story I don't think I'm ready to talk out loud right now."

"You need to tell someone though."

"I know and I will. You'll be the first to hear if you want but right now I'm still trying to settle from everything. Mr. Manhunter, I'm fine, truly. See?" She pulled back her bandaged arms to reveal slightly discolored skin where large cuts had been hours before. The two adults stared in shock as the girl undid her bandages around her arms and legs. There were several splotches of discolored skin but otherwise there were no traces of the damage from the day before.

"How?" Batman asked gruffly though there was a hidden dot of intrigue underneath.

"Let's just say, after so many times in a reviving chemical vat your genes tend to act funny."

"You've been in a Lazarus Pit?"

"Repeatedly, I'm sure you know what has been said about these mystical pools." Sophia cringed at the memories flooding the back of her eyes. The Dark Knight nodded while J'onn continued to remove the various bandages around her small frame. "I have the ability to regenerate and repair myself thanks to my trips to them. I know that most people think these pools can be only used once and it was true for the first part before Nyssa found a way to make them reusable. Don't ask because I don't know." Batman closed his mouth.

"Your back still has a scar and yet the rest of your body does not have a scratch. Why is that?" The older Martian asked. Sophia sighed while shrugging.

"Most likely since I've had it on for so long, my body thought it was a part of me so when it was burnt off my body must have thought that skin wouldn't grow back properly. Are those cards I spy, Batman?" Sophia reached out and grabbed two brightly colored pieces of paper just as Robin and Black Falcon entered with another plate of pancakes and milk. "These are wonderful. I'm sure you had fun with them." She grinned though Batman seemed to shiver at the memory.

"Hey your wounds are gone." The younger Grayson exclaimed which caused the older one to smile sheepishly.

"Some trick I picked up when I was away." He looked at her with suspicion but decided against it as he watched her inhale another plate of pancakes. "I told you I would be fine by the afternoon." She saw the shock on Artemis's face as she walked back into the room. She sighed but hugged her happily.

"That's great! Can I get up now? I can't sit still for more than a few hours unless I'm sleeping." She hopped up with a bounce and landed perfectly straight on her feet unlike the few hours before. "I take silence as a yes or whatever answers suits my questions so be forewarned." She grinned before stretching down to the floor her palms completely flat against the tiled floor. Just as M'gann and Superboy entered again, Sophia was walking around on her hands while Dick tried to grab her.

"Stay still. You still have stitches!"

"I'm good. I'll take them out later." She laughed as she lost her balance and fell in front of the two younger aliens. "Oh hello again."

"You're not hurt anymore." The Kryptonian stated though it sounded more of a question.

"Yes, as you can see," she got up and looked at her worried brother, adults, and friends, "I'm fine. I'll be good as new by tomorrow. Right now I only have a few bruises and those stitches." She jumped into a flip when Jason and Connor grabbed both her feet stopping her in mid-flip. The hyper girl pouted, obviously annoyed. "Oh come on."

"I can see where Terry gets his energy." Jason remarked. "You need to stop moving."

"I literally can't. I forgot my medication in my guitar…" Sophia dropped off in realization at her missing bag. "Where is it?" She looked around the medical bay while Jason looked at Batman who gave a tiny nod.

"It's at our place." Jason answered eliciting confusion from both Graysons. "I took it to our place when you were… uh… captured by Talia, since you left it on the ground."

"Oh, then can I have it? I kind of need it."

"You can get it yourself when we go back home." Batman added and indicated the time to leave the Cave.

"Great!" She smiled while still upside down. "Uh guys you can let go now. I can't hold my cover slip that much longer like this." Both boys gained a bright red flush as she was unceremoniously dropped. M'gann, Dick and Artemis laughed at their discomfort. "Ow, thanks. I needed to be dropped on my head at 11 in the morning. Where are my clothes?"

"It was destroyed in Tulsa so..." Artemis began.

"Hello Megan! I have some clothes you can borrow!" The female Martian flew off to her room before coming back with sheets of fabric in her arms. "The Bumblebees gave them to me as a welcoming present. They may be a bit big on you though."

"Oh, no this is fine." Sophia slipped a Happy Harbor High t-shirt over her gown before removing the gown from underneath. The shirt seemed to swallow her whole coming down to her knees. "Is this an extra large?"

"You're just that short, sis. Ow!" Dick snickered earning a hard punch on both shoulders from his sister and Artemis. This time Sophia snickered as the two best friends high fived each other. "Not fair. I call double team."

"Duh, and I wouldn't say anything either, brother. You're not that tall either."

"Taller than you." The twins blew raspberries at each other before Jason cleared his throat.

"If it makes you feel any better I think you're both super short." He towered over the two thirteen year olds using his entire six foot two frame. Dick looked up at his brother with a scandalized expression.

"I thought you were my brother."

"I am your older brother so that entitles me to embarrass you in public." He laughed before seeing the pout on Sophia's mouth.

"Mean" was all she said but Jason smirked at the amused undertone hidden beneath.

"We should go now." Batman came up to his family and Sophia after discussing some matters with J'onn. The two Wayne sons nodded and followed their father while Sophia hanged back with Artemis and M'gann for a moment.

"Should I tell him?" Artemis looked thoughtful knowing fully what the ravenette was talking about.

"Tell who what?" M'gann inquired.

"Dick. Should I tell him that his sister no longer exists on paper?" M'gann gasped drawing the attention of the males in the room. The group of girls just smiled innocently before they turned to each other.

"At the most opportune moment would be best." Sophia shook her head at the blonde's movie reference and waved goodbye to the girls when her brother yelled out for her near the zeta tubes. She stared skeptically at the glowing tunnels as one by one her brother and his family was recognized by the computer. She looked back at Artemis apprehensively when she felt two hands on her shoulders. She looked to see Dick and Jason smiling reassuringly as they walked through the light.

"Recognize Sophia Grayson, Guest."

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A/N: So that's that chapter. I hope it was alright. I would have updated sooner but I was visiting Toronto. Very pretty there. Highly recommend the Niagara Falls to anyone who hasn't gone. I'll update soon! But while you wait, why don't you review this chapter! I tend to update faster if I get more reviews. Tell your friends too if you want.

Kali: They're reading fan fiction in summer vacation. What makes you think they have friends?

Angel: I know they do! They are super nice people who give their time to read this so back off!

Kali: Give me back my cheesecake and then we'll talk.

Angel: Gah! you're impossible!


	15. Chapter 12

**Angel**: Woo! Reviews and Followers! You guys sure do let a girl know she's loved. :D Fast Update. I wrote this at my internship, shhh. ;3

**Kali**: Pft. Seriously? Tsk Tsk such unprofessional behavior.

**Angel**: I had nothing to do but wait for a machine to run for two whole hours! What else was I going to do?

**Kali**: I can think of a few things.

**Angel**: You... You're so...

**Kali**: Amazing? Beautiful? The best damn thing on Earth? Yes I agree.

**Angel**: Big headed and a jerk. Argh!

**Kali:** You aren't a pirate, my dear.

**Angel**: Gah! You're impossible! *walks out and slams door*

**Kali**: 3... 2... 1...

**Angel**: *door opens*

**Kali**: Welcome back.

**Angel**: ... I forgot my disclaimer. I don't own anything related to DC Comics. *Slams door again*

* * *

**Gotham City (Present)**

**Wayne Manor (11:30 A.M)**

"Was the blindfold really necessary?" Sophia pouted as she blinked away the fuzziness when her brother removed the black cloth from her face. "It's not like I don't already know where it is." The family froze in front of her. She sighed dramatically. "Only I know the location. The Shadows have no clue; I alone know this since I'm that much of a stalker." Her response sounded automatic almost robotic but she giggled at the end making the Bat family relax slightly. "Can I get some help out now?" She was stuck on the floor of the Batmobile since it could only hold up to three people maximum.

"Well if you took my offer, you wouldn't be stuck." Dick pulled his sister out with a heave. The young aerialist flew into the air flipping a few times before landing on Jason's unsuspecting shoulders. The poor sixteen year old fell face first into the stone floor of the cave only to be caught by his assailant just before he broke his nose.  
"Why would I want to sit on your lap? It's all bony. Have you been eating properly?" She snickered while patting the invisible dirt off Jason's shoulders. Jason blushed lightly at the close proximity that didn't go unnoticed by a certain boy wonder who gave a knowing smirk and snake eyes at him. The older teen face palmed himself while Sophia brushed herself off, making his younger brother cackle with an evil undertone.  
"I wouldn't be talking. You're tinier than I am." He mocked back as the teens walked back up to the manor. Well Jason was walking; the twins were playing extreme leapfrog (1). Bruce went ahead to tell Alfred of their guest. They passed the glass cases when Dick stopped and looked at his reflection. "And I have been eating. Have you seen this butt? It's huge!" Sophia laughed so hard she fell to the floor while Jason held his gut tears dotting the edges of his eyes.  
"Um no, I have no interest in your oversized butt! Man, I've missed you so much! I haven't had this much fun since we were six!" She squeezed her brother popping a few vertebrae in the process.  
"Can't breathe." He gasped as she released her hold. She went over to help Jason up who was still laughing. Dick watched his sister with a bright smile but there was sadness behind his blue eyes. "Come on! You can meet Alfred."  
"I have already."  
"What?" Both brothers froze in surprise as the girl skipped forward up the long staircase to the hallway.  
"Wait, sis, you've been here before?"  
"Well yeah, I helped Alfred with his groceries on… Wednesday? Yeah I think Wednesday. You have some pretty comfy beds, Dickie. I'm super jealous of you guys." They entered the hallway and headed down to the kitchen where Bruce and Alfred were talking. Alfred noticed the small girl in between the two older Wayne sons first.  
"Miss Sophia! How are you doing?"  
"Hello again. Thank you for your hospitality from before." Th old butler smiled kindly.  
"It is I who should be thanking you, my dear."  
"I'm sorry for not trying your hot chocolate, it smelled heavenly." She dipped her head in a bow. Alfred seemed pleased at her manners and took out three cups of hot chocolate.  
"Well there is always time to try some. Please." The three teens didn't have to be told twice as they each grabbed a mug of liquid heaven. Sophia almost cried as the rich sweet liquid slightly burned her throat after having been deprived for so long.  
"This is absolutely divine, Alfred. I can see why Damian and Terry have rounded out so much. Thank you for taking care of them, all of you." She smiled warmly at the two adults of the Wayne family. Just as the others finished their mugs they heard the small pattering of feet run down the stairs and into the kitchen.  
"Maică!" Sophia had to hold the counter to steady herself as two blurs hurdled at her shins before crouching down to their bright faces.  
"Hey you two. I got your cards. They did wonders on mommy's booboos." She nuzzled their stomachs causing both to laugh happily. Jason nudged his brother who was about to wipe his chocolate mustache away.  
"Have you ever seen Dami smile? Nice mustache by the way." Dick looked over to the second youngest Wayne and smiled as he watched the toddler laugh with a face splitting grin.  
"Never. Why thank you. It suits me doesn't it?"  
"As much as a polar bear in a tutu." Sophia smirked while Terry clung to her head and Damian in her arms. "So where's my guitar?"  
00000000000000000000000000000  
Unknown Location  
The Light (12:43 P.M)  
"It seems we have lost our primary weapon thanks to your daughter, Ra." Lex Luthor accused as the members of the Light ate their lunches.  
" Does she not understand the severity of the loss? That weapon was imperative to our plans." The queen of Bialya seethed. "She alone could render any military useless! Even Superman would bend before her. Now that she is out of your daughter's control, she is a threat to our goal." The other members looked equally angry or disappointed towards the man Talia calls Father. Ra wiped his mouth and looked around the room at the villainous group.  
"Yes my daughter did lose our key to defeating the Justice League, and believe me when I say that she will be punished. But you forget my friends, I always have a plan."

* * *

**Gotham City**  
**Wayne Manor (1:12 P.M)**

"And this is your room, maică. It's next to our room." Terry pulled Sophia into the room she previously inhabited. Dick followed her through half the manor before he got a call from Wally. Apparently the speedster's school was cancelled for the day due to a stomach bug going around the teachers so he would be coming over to visit for the weekend. Once in the room Sophia saw her guitar case lying on the floor seemingly content with its place. The previously nomadic girl walked up to her case and lifted the lid carefully. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her precious guitar wasn't broken. Jason watched silently from the door.  
"What's so special about that case?" Sophia didn't lift her head as she looked through the weathered case. " I said…" Terry and Damian crawled onto her bed waiting for her to finish checking her things. Once she double checked that everything was in order she pulled out two small packages.  
"I heard you the first time. No need to say it twice, Mr. Impatient. Well if you must know, first off I've lived out of it for eight months and second, happy late birthday, you two." Terry squealed in delight while Damian smiled with a light blush on his face. Both children opened their presents to see two equal sized pendants. One had a bat curled around a bright green marble while the other had a tiger curled around a dark green one. Jason pondered on the girl's statement when he heard Dick call for him. He left the small sub-Batfamily to find the thirteen year old vigilante.  
"Thank you, maică!" The two chimed before a loud rumble echoed through the room.  
"Alright who ate thunder for breakfast?" Sophia placed her hands on her hips with a mock frown on her face. Almost spontaneously the two brothers pointed at each other before a rumble erupted from all three of their stomachs. "Looks like we all did. Okay you two let's go see if we can ask Alfred for some food." Sophia laughed as her boys piled on top of her before spotting Tim in the doorway. "Hello Tim. How are you feeling?"  
"I should be asking you the same. What happened to your bandages? I'm fine though, thanks."  
"Long story short, I have rapid regeneration. Come on! Let's go eat!" She grabbed the toddlers on her arms letting them hang like monkeys. With a cackle not too different from her brother's, the mother ran down the hall with her children squealing while the older boys of the house followed happily; peals of laughter echoed through the halls alerting the old butler of the oncoming slew of hungry children.  
"This is Gamma Team One. We are in position. Target BC has been sighted. Standing by for kill call."

* * *

**Star City**  
**Mike's Diner (10:12 A.M) (2)**

"Is there a particular reason you have called me out today?" Kaldur looked across the table at the large menu standing in front of him with a pensive expression. The menu dropped revealing a blank faced Roy.  
"I need some help. I'll have a BLT bagel and coffee." Kaldur raised an eyebrow before ordering himself a cup of coffee. The waitress walked off to fill their orders leaving them alone in the empty diner. "There have been large power surges around the area and while it looks like they're just electrical flukes I overheard GA talking to Batman over the phone a few days ago. It seems there are other worldly forces at work."  
"And you require my help to find the bottom of it?" Roy nodded at his best friend. "Why not call the League or go solo like you plan to do?" The estranged hero rubbed his eyes in frustration before nodding thanks to the server when their food arrived.

"I… may have been irrational in my judgment to go off on my own so early, but I don't want to tell GA or BC just yet."

"And you want my help instead of Robin's or Kid Flash's?"  
"Well yeah, those two are like brothers to me but they're still a bit sore that I didn't join the team. Look if you don't want to help I understand."  
"I will always help my friends; so what do you plan to do?"  
"The surges are all centering around the police sectors in the city and Star City has a history of being a city over a city. I looked at the old blueprints at the library and found under the stations are these pockets of nothing."  
"Nothing? As in empty space?" The Atlantian took a sip of his coffee before grimacing at the taste.  
"Yes and no. That coffee not agreeing with your taste?" Roy snickered while Aqualad poured a few spoonfuls of sugar before drinking again. "Those sites were the same sites that a major earthquake sank a few decades ago. Star City was built over the remains."  
"How you people drink this foul liquid is beyond my comprehension. It is far too bitter."  
"Why order it then?"  
He pushed the black liquid away and sat back pondering. "I have never heard of coffee and was curious at its popularity among the surface dwellers. Is there a possibility that the police are keeping something away from the public? It seems that these surge patterns are looking for something." This time Red Arrow sat back to think, his plate finished.  
"I'm not sure but that doesn't mean we can't find out. There are service tunnels all over the city that lead to the old city parts. We can head out there now unless you want to finish your coffee." Aqualad looked shocked when he saw that he was going to drink the bitter fluid.  
"I... I do not understand. It tastes disgusting yet I still wish to drink it." Roy let out an uncharacteristic bark of laughter at his friend's expense alerting the staff who looked over at the odd teens.  
"That, my friend, is the mysteries of coffee. Now let's go." The boys paid their bill and left the diner when a surge of electricity arched through the sky. The friends gave each other a glance before they shot off to the source.

* * *

"Fire." A shot rang off. A window shattered.  
"Maică!"

* * *

1. Extreme Leapfrog is parkour mixed with the traditional game of leapfrog. The objective is of course to jump over the other person but in this game it can involve flipping, rocks, diving, rocks, and if played in a cave, more rocks. The rocks are used as supports incase one of the players decides to play upside down. Remember, the Grayson twins are aerialists!  
2. Star City is in California in this story so the time zone is different.

Angel: Okay I know this one was short but I couldn't help stopping at this cliffy. Mwahaha! Oh no! Kal's evilness is rubbing off! Ahh! Save yourselves! But while you're running do you mind giving me a review? Thanks! Ahhh!


	16. Chapter 13

**Kali:** Since Miss Nice can't upload this herself she's ask this twerp to upload for her.

**Sonya: **Hey everyone! I'm Angel's sister. I'm surprised she even let you online Kal, after what happened last time...

**Kali: **It was April Fool's day, who couldn't pass that opportunity up.

**Sonya: **Whatever... Please enjoy this chapter on behalf of my idiotic sister who doesn't own anything related to DC Comics.

* * *

**Gotham City**  
**Wayne Manor (1:30 A.M)**

"Maică!" Terry yelped gleefully for help when his brothers tackled him in a tickle fight. The rowdy boys ended up hitting the window with so much force it cracked, shattering right after. Sophia rushed over to her son while the other continued to tickle Terry. She never mentioned the graze she felt across her cheek when the window shattered. The young girl could feel blood dribble down her cheek but brushed it off letting the cut close up enough to stop the bleeding.

"My, my. Look what you boys have done now." she picked up the exhausted boy along with his brother away from the broken glass before noticing Bruce and his frown. "Well I'll take these monkeys down to the kitchen. Have fun brother!" The older twin flew off with the youngest Waynes in tow while the older ones sat back to listen to yet another DaddyBats lecture. Her twin grumbled half-heartedly after her. No one noticed the small bullet hole just behind the tapestry on the wall.

Just as the trio reached the kitchen Alfred had plates of spaghetti lined up for them. The boys squealed in delight at their favorite meal completely missing their mom disappear from the room.

"This is Gamma Team One...Target BC has been... Eliminated..."

"Gamma Team One, you are having delays is there any problems?"

"None. Gamma Team One out." The two hidden figures drop to the lush moss below their perch gripping their heads in pain. Sophia stepped out of the shadows with a menacing glare and hovered over them.

" _**Remember, your mission was successful. You never saw me. Black Cardinal died. There are pictures from the crime scene in your briefcase along with blood samples. Now, leave this area and don't come back.**_" The assassins stared blankly at her as she commanded them. Their eyes were dilated as they numbly nodded at every word she said. After her instructions she disappeared back through the woods and left the men to pack their gear.

"Maică! Where were you? We is having spetti!" Terry chirped as he spotted the young girl. She smiled widely as the rest of the family looked at her.

"Sorry, I got lost going to the restroom, and it's 'we are having spaghetti', spah-get-tea, little bat. Well your clothes are." she moved over to the family sitting at the table. With a flourish she took the napkin and wiped off Terry's saucy face and his clothes. The boy giggled as his mom tickled his stomach before moving onto his brother. Damian fidgeted under the napkin trying to stay quiet, but a tiny giggle came out.

The rest of the family still could not fathom a childlike Damian and yet there he was smiling happily while chatting merrily alongside his brother. They stared at the three interacting and could not help but notice how they didn't feel like they're intruding that it felt right for the girl to be there as if she always had been. Sophia scratched her dwindling cut on her cheek which doesn't go unseen by the Dark Knight. The two gazes meet and with one look Sophia sighs before giving a small nod. She returned her attention to the two youngest Waynes as they told her about how life has been since she placed them at the manor.

"And we can sleep on big fluffy beds that don't hurt our backs and make our heads achy." Damian finished with his arms out wide to show how large the beds were. Terry patted his head with happiness at the absence of pain.

"And Jason likes to play tickles. And Timmy reads books. And Alfie makes the bestest cookies ever! Oopsie not real word, the best. And Dickie likes to throw us into air like you does!" Terry ran over to Dick who grimaced as the tomato sauce rubbed against his arm but quickly grinned as he picked the small toddler up from the floor. "Dickie! I has to pee." The little boy slid down his brother's leg smearing more sauce over the boy wonder. Then grabbing his hand, Terry and Dick walked off to the restroom. Sophia smirked at her brother's mess while Jason laughed boisterously at a snarky comment Tim made. Alfred had gone to wash dishes and refused the girl's offer to help. Gotham's knight excused himself making Sophia leave Damian in Jason's care.

The two walked down to Bruce's office where he sat behind his computer and Sophia situated herself on a chair. They spent a few moments in awkward silence as Bruce typed up several files from the mainframe.

"Care to explain your cut?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sophia..." He gave an I-will-get-the-answer look to the adolescent girl.

"It was nothing. My nails are sharp." Her breathing increased slightly.

"Is there something you're not telling us, Sophia?" At this the girl shook her head frantically. Bruce eyed her with an I-don't-believe-you look. "I'm not talking about the assassination attempt since I know you've dealt with it. I'm asking about how there is no record of your existence anymore. Can you explain that?" She heaved a heavy sigh and dropped her head to her chest. _Of course you couldn't hide from the world's greatest detective, Phi._ The girl sat silent for awhile with a heavy pressure building around her to a point of suffocation. Noticing her evident discomfort the father spoke in a counseling manner causing the girl to pale more, "I think it would be better if you speak your mind. It would help..."

"Easy for you to say!" The Batman's eyes widened at her sudden angry outburst. Sophia gasped as she quickly covered her mouth in shock. There were tears prickling the edges of her eyes. "I... I'm..." The father of five knew the signs of a break down and immediately surrounded the petite girl in a large fatherly embrace. Almost spontaneously the unfortunate girl broke down in tears when Bruce began to stroke her hair whispering soft words of comfort. Sophia's knees gave out as she slumped against Bruce's broad chest. She continued to cry "I'm sorry" over and over as if saying anything else would make everything vanish.

"Maică! Why are you crying? Daddy, did you hurt maică? That's not nice." Terry entered the room followed by a very concerned twin brother. Sophia composed herself enough to smile through her tears as she hugged her son who was patting her in an odd toddler way ensuring that she wasn't hurt.

"Mommy's fine, little bat. Your daddy was just trying to help me get something out of my eye." She wiped her eyes and looked at her very concerned younger twin. "Really, I'm fine." she rose to her feet with a few wobbles and held Terry to her hip. "I'll talk to you later, Bruce." She offered Dick a hand but he decided to stay behind.

"Bruce what's going on?" Sophia heard as she walked down the hall to the entertainment room where she found Tim laughing as Damian jumped on Jason's back. The eldest Wayne looked up to his savior with a pleading gaze making the girl laugh at his pitiful state.

"Damian Thomas Wayne! What on Earth are you doing?" No one missed the amused undertone at the scolding voice. Damian jumped one last time on his eldest brother's back before flipping forward to his mom.

"Well Drake said that if I jumped on Todd he would give me a new bike." Damian smiled innocently. Tim snickered at the toddler's naivety while Jason pushed himself off the floor. Sophia rolled her eyes and smacked the back of Tim's head who gave a disgruntled yelp before kneeling down to her son's level.

"Damian, we do not jump on people for things, understood? Go apologize to Jason. And I think they would like to be called by their first names, sweetie. You wouldn't want me to call you Wayne, would you?" Damian shook his head and ran over to the bruised Wayne.

"I'm sorry, To... Jason." Jason looked shocked at the apology before nodding in acknowledgement as Damian ran back to Sophia, bouncing around happily with his brother. Jason rubbed his sore shoulders unable to reach his bruised back. Tim received another head slap from his brother.

"What? I thought he wouldn't fall for it." Tim protested only to be given an eye roll.

"Yeah well he did, so now I have a bruised back and chest." He rubbed the bruises on his chest which were only from repeatedly hitting the floor so much. Groaning he fell backwards onto the couch to lie down, just as Sophia was sitting down. _Jason meet butt; butt meet Jason._

"Ah! Sorry!" Sophia jumped straight up in surprise; a blush erupted off her sun kissed skin. Damian and Terry looked at her in confusion while Tim who saw what happened burst out in laughter. Jason sported a blush that rivaled Wally's hair color. Dick came in at that moment completely confused like the toddlers.

"Uh, what happened?"

"Nothing." The two red faced teens spoke quickly raising suspicion in the younger Grayson twin.

"Your sis just gave Jay an eyeful of butt." Tim snickered while Dick's mouth dropped. Sophia walked over to Tim and smacked his head again eliciting another yelp from the ten year old.

"I accidentally sat on Jason's face. No need to think otherwise, brother. You'll catch flies if you leave your mouth open like that." She pushed his chin back into place and made her way to the toddlers who were playing with blocks on the carpet. Jason sat up - his face still heated - not noticing the wheelchair rolling up next to him or the younger twin next to him.

"She has a pretty butt." The mischievous preadolescent child whispered into his older brother's ear loud enough for the other brother to hear as well.

"Yeah she does... Did I just say that out loud?" Jason stared wide eyed at the murderous glare coming from his left side while hearing Tim, laugh his head off.

"Jay..." Dick adopted and modified Bruce's Batglare making the older teen gulp. Sophia looked up from watching the toddlers to see her brother and Jason wrestling each other. Dick was growling, yes literally growling, as Jason yelled for help. The older Grayson rolled her eyes and walked over to the two boys. Sighing she pulled her brother's collar just as he was about to bite Jason's arm.

"I can't look away for a minute before someone in this family tries to attack another. What's going on?" she helped Jason onto his feet as she scolded her twin. Jason sighed in relief only to wince in the discovery of yet another bruise this time around his eye. Dick huffed angrily at his brother but said nothing. "Dickie? What's going on?"

"Nothing, Phi. Don't worry about it. Hey do you want to hang out with me and Wally at the arcade?"

"Ah I would love to, but I have something I need to do first, 'kay?" Dick nodded and walked off to meet Wally. "Hey Tim can I borrow your computer?" Tim stared at her in an are-you-crazy fashion. Jason laughed before patting Tim's shoulder earning a frown from the ten year old.

"The only way you'll get his computer is if he dropped dead. You can borrow mine since Dickie's is broken. It's in my room though."

"Great. It'll only take an hour." They walked, or wheeled, to Jason's room. Inside clothes and other stuff littered the once spacious bedroom. Sophia picked her way to the equally messy desk where a large desktop sat under piles of paper and clothes.

"Uh, I don't usually have guests." Jason rubbed his neck and began to pick up around the room shoving things under his bed or in the closet.

"I can see that. Could you open the curtains? It's a bit dark in here."  
Damian, Terry, and Tim chose the safest spot in the room to stay, the bed. Jason blinked several times as sunlight flooded the messy room. Sophia picked up a few magazines as she turned the computer on.

"Sports Illustrated, Playboy, and what's this? ..." She gave a small laugh at Jason's flaming face as he quickly snatched up the less than decent periodicals. The sixteen year old quickly hid those in a drawer somewhere in the back of his closet. "Alright then. If you can give me some alone time that'd be great. Leave those two. They need the sleep." Tim looked at his younger brothers sleeping quietly behind the girl's back, Jason was about to wake them. _How did she know?_"I'm a mom, Tim. And no I cannot read minds." Tim was slightly put off as he watched the girl type furiously at something that looked very similar to a computer program. Jason had already left the room but waited outside the door, his face still a slight red. He breathed deeply trying to make the blush calm down. _What's going on?_

* * *

**Star City**  
**Underground (12:40 P.M)**

Kaldur propped his friend against the wall as bullets and lasers shot past them. Roy was bleeding heavily from the shoulder and his bow had been broken. Inside his quiver, however, was the reason for the power surges, waiting to be shown to a certain Justice League. "Stay with me, my friend."

"I'm not going anywhere. C'mon let's go." Kaldur limped while supporting hi critically injured friend down the old tunnel leading to the surface.

"I do hope you weren't thinking of leaving without saying goodbye." A heavy accented voice floated behind the two teens. Despite their injuries the superheroes turned around with their weapons ready. Roy materialized a crossbow from nowhere while Kaldur had his water bearers. The woman behind them was being carried by creatures not known to their planet.

"Red Queen." Red Arrow growled. "Should have known you would be behind this."

" Well, if it isn't Greenie's lost sidekick. I've missed playing with you dear. But you're hardly correct. I'm doing a friend a favor; so, I would like it back now." The woman's dress splayed over her raised chair hiding her various weapons concealed underneath. Without warning two steel roses shot out from the chair pinning Aqualad's leg to the ground. In retaliation the Atlantian shot off two rounds of electrified water bullets, hitting the creatures holding the chair. With a screech the Red Queen fell forward towards Red Arrow who shot several arrows at her dress to pin her down.

"Who's this friend of yours, Red Queen?"

"Wouldn't you love to know. But knowledge comes with a price and I'm afraid you can't give what I want." She whispered almost seductively before a fist knocked her out.

"Red Arrow, I do not think that was necessary ..." Aqualad unpinned himself and tied the creatures up while Roy stared at the unconscious woman with disgust.

"She annoys me by just talking. Let's go give this to Bats." The boys limped off back to the surface carrying the important information.

"What I would like to know is why the Star City police have this case file. This file says it was a kidnapping-homicide closed case from San Diego. Did it say who the murder victims were?" Aqualad mused as they reached an empty back alley.

"Michael Richard, Sophia Grayson, Jon Scales..." Aqualad paused in disbelief.

"Sophia Grayson?"

"Yeah, she's the only one whose body they couldn't find but there was enough blood on the warehouse floor to conclude death."

"That is impossible. She is alive. I have seen her."

"What? When? Where? How?"

"On a mission. She is Robin's twin currently healing at Mount Justice."

"That... That can't be true. It's obviously a disguise to infiltrate the League. We have to tell the team." Roy ignored the pain radiating through his body and dragged Kaldur to the nearest zeta tube.

_What's going on?_


	17. Chapter 14

**AngelWings: **Woot! Kal went back to London to help with the Olympics or something so I have the computer for myself today! Fair warning this chapter has got to be the most heart breaking chapter so far... I'm sorry in advance if this upsets anyone.

Disclaimer: Y I NO OWN ANYTHING! Oh right, because I'm not awesome enough...

* * *

**Unknown location**

**The Light (4:07 P.M)**

"The weapon has been neutralized."  
"How can we trust this information?"  
"My assassins are the best in the world. They have proof as well. Photos and blood samples. There's even a news headline."  
"Excellent."  
"It's a shame though. The weapon would have been the only thing we needed to rule."  
"There's always ways to reach our goal, friends. We just have to be patient."  
"Yes, patience, for everyone will eventually see the light."

* * *

**Happy Harbor**  
**Mount Justice (4:21 P.M)**

"Recognize Aqualad B02. Recognized Speedy B06."

"It's Red Arrow, dammit! Now where is she?"

"Kaldur? Roy! What are you two doing here today?" The green skinned girl inquired innocently as the mountain's residents came in to greet their guests. Connor was standing behind her with another bored look.

"Hello M'gann. Roy wishes to see Miss Grayson. It is very urgent that we see her."

"Ah... Well you see... She's not here anymore. She went home with Rob... I mean Dick."

"Wait you know Robin's identity?" The estranged hero gasped in surprise. The team members nodded while looking at the teen with questioning gazes.

"He told us yesterday. You know his identity as well, right?" M'gann said.

"Well, yeah, I've known him since he was 10. Look I need to ask her something. So she's at Dick's place? I'm leaving then."

"What's so important that you can't wait to ask her later when she gets another check up here?"

"Uh... I didn't know that, but that doesn't matter. I need to warn you guys!"

"Warn us? About what?" The super clone asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"That girl. She's not who she says she is."

"What do you mean?" The group of teens missed hearing the computer's announcement on the new arrivals.

"I'm saying she's tricking you. Sophia Grayson died seven years ago!" A collective gasp filled the archer's ears, but the one that stood out the most was from behind the group. The heroes turned around to see a shocked Dick and a pale Sophia who was covering her mouth in fearful surprise. "Dick, get away from her. She isn't who she says she is."

"What are you talking about, Roy? This is my twin sister, Sophia." The former protégé shook his head and pulled out the case file he and Kaldur retrieved from the Star City police station. He handed the file to the confused Robin. Sophia tried to look over his shoulders but couldn't due to her short stature. The blue eyed younger twin skimmed the file and immediately jumped from Sophia's side looking at her with suspicious shock. Pain was evident in the girl's crystal eyes.

"Who are you?" Her brother's voice scathed.

"Dickie... It's me, Sophia, your sister." They could hear the tears creeping up in her voice.

"Liar! Don't call me that, imposter. This says she died seven years ago! Who are you? Who do you work with? How do you know my family?" The team readied themselves for battle.

"I'm telling the truth! I'm not an imposter! Please! You of all people should know!" The girl yelled back with a sad pleading voice. The boy wonder hesitated but looked back at the case pictures seeing the massive blood puddle marked as Sophia Grayson. He launched a furious yell before throwing three bird-a-rangs at her. Too shocked to defend herself, the pain stricken sister found herself with three, knife like projectiles sticking out of her chest. She coughed up blood as the edges tore at her lungs. The other members stood with horrified stillness as they watched their youngest member pulled the weapons out of her chest making the blood rush into her collapsed lungs.

"Who are you?" He yelled repeatedly as the girl he thought was his sister gasped for air. Tears streamed down her face as she said her name over and over. She breathed heavily as more blood was coughed out.

"_**Stop, please**_." She nearly lost her last grips on reality when she stared in horror as the last person she wanted to use her power over froze momentarily before he shook out of his daze.

"Why are you torturing me like this?" Robin slumped in front of her crying in equal confused anguish.

This was the scene that greeted Wonder Woman and Black Canary as they entered the mountain. Almost immediately Wonder Woman flew over to the bleeding girl to take her to the medical bay while Canary took the shaking bird away to the counseling room. The other teens finally reanimated enough to follow Canary. Well Roy and Kaldur followed the blonde while M'gann and Connor followed Wonder Woman. M'gann almost screamed as she entered the medical bay alarming her boyfriend.

"I'm fine. She's in a lot of pain." She huffed breathlessly. Connor walked over to Wonder Woman and the girl while M'gann rested nearby trying to resist the waves of pain flowing off Sophia. The girl began to relapse into a seizure as tortuous memories flooded her mind. She screamed "No! Please! I'm sorry!" repeatedly, begging the unseen to stop until her heart stopped entirely.

"I can't hear her heart anymore." Connor whispered in shock making M'gann turn white from shock.

* * *

"Richard..." Canary tried to lift the raven's head but his was firmly pushed against his knees as he had curled up on the chair silently crying.

"Why?" He yelled after a few moments. Canary was confused and let the boy continue yelling. "Why would someone... Anyone... Do that? And after all that… I thought she really was... I don't understand!" He screamed alarming the older teens outside who rushed in to comfort the young bat. "She was my only remaining family." he whispered. Roy felt terrible after seeing the obvious family resemblance between the two ravenettes. He read the file and saw the pictures so he assumed that the worst happened to young Sophia Grayson, but he could literally feel the connection between the two, a family connection that couldn't be severed until now. So he resumed consoling the poor boy alongside Kaldur.

A few moments later Kaldur heard M'gann's soft voice through the mind link. He looked over to Dick but the Atlantian boy didn't see any sign that the young boy heard anything.

"Kaldur, the girl... She... She's dead." M'gann cried sorrowfully into the older teen's head. "Richard has no idea. Can you come over to the medical bay? Wonder Woman contacted Batman, and he asked to see you."

"I am on my way, M'gann." The Atlantian excused himself from the room, but no one noticed as their sole attention was on the grieving boy on the chair. At the medical bay, Kaldur almost ran into a dark wall. The said wall was actually Batman who was trying to calm down a hysteric Wonder Woman.

"Princess, calm down."  
"But... She... And I... Nothing!" Kaldur finally noticed the ashen bloodied girl lying once again on a white medical bed. Connor was holding a distraught M'gann while looking quite shocked himself. Quietly he walked up to the previously living girl and noticed something very odd.

* * *

Sophia couldn't breathe. The darkness was closing around her as she saw her brother throw his weapons at her repeatedly as if it were a film stuck on replay. Slowly her brother morphed into a sneering sadistic smile eventually leading up to Talia with her throwing knives posed to throw again.

"Here comes round seven. My have you gotten sloppy. You need more retraining, my pet."

"No! Please! I'm sorry!" Younger Sophia cried out with older Sophia's voice overlaying it.

"Such words will get you nowhere, dear."

"No! Please!" Sophia screamed bloody murder as Talia let loose her deadly tools. She felt her life bleed out as she fell back into the green bubbling concoction behind her. "I'm sorry." Her lungs collapsed and she felt as if her whole body imploded. Slowly a cool peace swept over her as she saw the now very familiar tunnel of light. A hooded shadow blocked her path once more as it always did and pushed her away with a bone bare hand.

"Please let me go this time! Please!" She could hear her mother's voice again, her cousin Jake smiling sadly at her and her aunt's sobbing. She could almost see her father grabbing her mother who was trying to reach her, with arms outstretched, before she crumpled at his feet crying in anguish. His blue eyes shining with unshed tears. He waved a loving good bye before picking up her mom to carry her away.

"Mom! Dad! Please don't leave! I'll stay! Please! Let go of me!" More skeleton hands pulled her away from her glowing family. She screamed as she bolted up off the bed.

"It's not your time child?"

"Did I do something wrong? Why do you continue to condemn me to a personal hell, again and again?" The hooded shadow said nothing and turned away disappearing back into the ethereal glow.

"Why? Why?" The room's occupants jumped back in shock and amazement at the girl's miraculous self-resuscitation. The girl brought her knees to her chest as she cried heartbreakingly. No one moved. No one breathed at that moment until Batman's paternal and Wonder Woman's maternal instinct kicked in, and they both encased the small miracle girl in a basket of arms. Her tears soaked into her bloodied clothes. When she opened her eyes she saw the red and shrieked in pain before jolting out of the medical bay. Even at his top speed, Flash would have never caught up with the fleeing girl. She ran to a hall only to find it as a dead end. She turned and ran out through the garage where a troubled Wolf growled at the unknown girl before he smelled the blood and tears on her blurred figure.

The altered wolf ran after the girl as she tore through the forest hiding the mountain's entrance. Outside the sky had turned almost black as a storm threatened the port city. Just as she stopped by a small creek to wash her face, she saw Talia's face in the water, evilly smirking back at her in place of her own reflection.

"Of course they'd never trust you. You're not supposed to exist anymore. You're just a freak, now. No one loved you, not even your own twin brother. You can easily be forgotten." The hurt teen scrambled away from the water edge, away from the deadly voice echoing over the sound of flowing river. Her maniacal laughter rustled the leaves. Her sharp touch prickled Sophia's skin. Eventually, much to her horror, Talia's voice became Dick's yelling.

"Who are you? You're an imposter. Someone like you could never be my sister. Imposter! Imposter!" The word echoed through her skull as she curled up next to a tree away from the water, away from the harsh wind, away from the rustling leaves. She cried loudly just as the sky opened and drenched the poor girl to match her mood. Thunder shook the ground while lightning streaked across the black sky. Wolf found the girl shaking from the still icy spring rain as she cried against her now fallen tree. The enlarged animal padded over to the girl and sniffed her curiously. The blood had toned down but her tears were stronger than ever. He deemed her to be a good person and with a whine Wolf nudged the petite girl to grab her attention. Blue eyes widened at the sight of him but remained silent as she stood up to face him. Wolf nodded his head back towards the mountain before pushing the frozen girl from behind.

She didn't budge an inch as she stared up towards the torrential heavens with a mixture of emotion. She opened her mouth and screamed releasing all her agony, her anger, her frailty. Wolf sat onto the muddy ground waiting for the girl for finish making her voice hoarse. As her throat burned she screamed harder trying to erase her cursed voice.

After what seemed to be eternity, Sophia stopped her cries. Wolf walked over and nuzzled her in a nurturing manner. She could only lessen her frown into a straight line, all signs of happiness disappeared from her eyes when her brother had jumped away with bitter suspicion. She hugged the giant white wolf gratefully before moving back to the mountain. Outside the entrance waiting was her pained brother, a guilt-stricken Roy, a worried M'gann, an unnerved Connor, a pondering Kaldur, a stoic Batman, a worried Black Canary, a saddened Wonder Woman, and a very peeved Artemis. They seemed to have finished a very heated discussion along with forming a search party. The blonde stopped killing Roy in her mind, which M'gann found unsettling when some of the emotion leaked out, when she spotted the soggy duo. A great sigh of relief washed over her as she ran over to her younger friend. She wrapped the small girl in her arms as Sophia stared blankly at everyone. All emotion was lost leaving her eyes so dull they looked dead. Batman came up to the best friends and handed Sophia a case file who accepted it without looking at it or anything really. Artemis looked over her usually happy hyper active chipmunk of a best friend/sister. It shocked her to see the lifelessness she carried around her. She vowed to destroy the stupid, ginger archer if it was the last thing she did; however, her destruction would have to wait as Batman opened his mouth to say something.

"Follow me" was all the Dark Knight needed to say as the group reentered the mountain, thunder and lightning promising a horrible night.

* * *

**AngelWings**: Okay sorry if this made anyone want to cry... I cried when I was writing this... mainly because i was so confused by it... well I hoped you enjoyed it even if it was the most angsty chapter I've ever written... Please review! It's only a few words or a lot if you feel generous. :D Thanks for reading!


	18. Chapter 15

**Kali: **I'm gone for one day and you post the one chapter I specifically said not to.

**Angel:** Well duh. It was vital to the story.

**Kali:** As vital as a snake bite. And Sonya wonders why I'm on the internet.

**Angel****:** Well...I thought it was good.

**Kali:** You made Rob speechless! Whatever... just do your shit and be done.

**Angel: **I knew there was a reason why I like London... well I don't own DC Comics sadly, also there is fluff in this. This is a long chapter since I felt bad for making you all feel sad from the last chapter.

* * *

**Happy Harbor**

**Mount Justice (6:37 PM)**

"Follow me." Sophia could only register Artemis's hands as they guided her back into the cave, out of the rain. Her whole body felt numb. She didn't notice the tormented face of her brother or the guilty one of Roy. She only saw her feet and the rain soaked, bloodied clothes clinging to her beyond skinny frame. The lifeless girl wasn't aware that she had been wrapped with a warm towel or the soft words her best friend whispered in her ear. Everyone, however, noticed how blue her lips were, how broken she looked, and how she seemed to not care anymore. As she was gently pushed down onto a chair, she finally came around to start hearing voices instead of mumbles.

"Batman, she can't possibly be her. The case file specifically shows her blood smeared on a concrete floor. With that much blood loss she had to have died. The explosion was right next to her according to the file." Roy muttered only to earn a piercing death glare from a certain blonde archer in place of a well aimed arrow since Dinah took both archers' bows. Batman looked at Sophia who seemed to strangle the pulp out of the chair cushion while the evil file lied across her lap. The girl was staring darkly at the cover as if she wanted to see inside but not at all, at the same time. A few seconds later she had her decision and opened the file with shaky hands. Sophia started to hyperventilate as she saw the pictures, memories once again flooding back to torment her. In an act of pure fear she threw the file across the room alarming everyone of her sudden action. Artemis tried to calm her friend down but to no avail as the younger girl turned from pale to a light blue.

Sophia felt light headed as if she had been underwater too long. She swayed a bit, and while he still couldn't understand what was happening, Connor walked over to help Artemis. Sophia lost consciousness once more as she fell into Superboy's arms. Artemis panicked as did most of the occupants in the room. M'gann floated next to the emotionally damaged girl as well contemplating on whether or not to enter the poor girl's mind. The Martian decided it would be best to go into the girl's mind once more and could not believe what she saw. Usually inside a person's mind it was a large room with a handful of screens, and typically only two screens relayed information when the person was conscious - one for reality and the other for memory recall- but with Sophia she had at least fifty on, each with a horrific film playing on replay. In the middle of the mind room she saw Sophia lying on her back stretched out like a snow angel looking a bit calmer if not indifferent, but the tears had left their mark on her tanned skin.

"Don't watch them for too long. They'll traumatize you, forever." Sophia spoke with bitterness. M'gann started to float over to sit beside her when she stopped at one very familiar scene. She curiously touched a side button and the room immediately filled with sound. It was an old, creaking manufacturing warehouse that had several children held inside crying for their parents. She saw chains around all of their legs and hands; all but Sophia's who had broken free.

"There had been a temporary act at the circus, an escape artist. He showed me and Dick how to pick locks using our teeth. It was funny because we learned how a day before my kidnapping." The prone girl laughed dryly as she continued to stare upwards towards the ceiling. M'gann was completely mesmerized by the scene and gasped in horror as she saw what happened next. A loud explosion rocked the room as she watched young Sophia trying to flee from the blast. The dying screams of the others haunted the young Martian, but she still watched as memory Sophia turned to see shards of metal fly at her. One had glanced off her eyelid while another sliced her wrist open. The major hit though was on her neck, the ruptured carotid gushed out crimson rivers. The young Sophia screamed in agony before she collapsed onto the concrete floor bleeding out heavily. A large shadow pulled up beside her and picked her up. The screen went dark for what seemed like a few minutes. Afterwards the green girl saw Sophia awaken to see more chains around her, an eye patch, and a bandage around her wrist. She was tied to a wooden post with her mouth covered with some sort of cloth. In the distance, gruff voices argued about something. M'gann could only catch a little bit.

"You, fucking bastards! I told you to not store the cargo in Gotham's dock warehouses. They've got crazy shit happening out there. Now we only have one left, just one! And she's damaged as well. Three pints of blood! That's how much she lost thanks to your incompetence. Do you know how hard it is to get blood? ... I don't care what excuse you have. She actually died on the table for a good five minutes! You are the most incompetent fools I have ever encountered. I can only hope she brings good money when she heals. But you two, I don't need you." Two gunshots rang through Sophia's skull followed by two thuds as bodies hit the floor before her. The lifeless eyes of her kidnappers stated at her burning their image into her mind again. M'gann closed her eyes as she tried to get the image of their bleeding bodies out of her skull before she looked over to the girl whose memory she had watched. Sophia looked almost bored completely detached, but what frightened the telepathic was that she laughed, hard and coldly.

"How can you laugh at this? This is horrible!"

"No one knew. No one came like those fairy tales said they would. My childhood broke that day. Back then I still saw the positive side to things. Now I realize how much of a fool I was. It's funny really."

"You died though."

"Yes, I did die. But that wasn't the end, obviously." The girls sat in silence while Sophia continued to stare upwards. M'gann looked up and gasped again. It was the tunnel of light again, with the hooded shadow and her family.

"How can you be so calm? I've only seen glimpses of your death, and you're just sitting here, laughing! Aren't you afraid? Scared of dying? How?"

"Through lots of practice. I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid of living."

"I don't understand."

"It's fine if you don't. I'm just that messed up."

"You should tell them the truth, especially Dick..." The suffering girl sighed heavily, her chest heaving in response. M'gann looked around at the various screens.

"Are these always on?"

"Yes. It's worse at night though. I have more screens that appear, even on the floor. The sound turns on automatically too."

"That memory I watched, it wasn't all of it was it?" Sophia gave a snort.

"Hardly." She drawled. "If they were the full ones they'd be on that screen." She pointed to the largest screen surrounded by two giant speakers. "They usually appear the most when I'm sleeping. I guess I'm unconscious right now since there's no sound coming out automatically." M'gann nodded slowly though she doubted the flat girl saw it.

"What about your happy memories? Surely they show as well." Again another small laugh answered her question.

"Yeah they do once every blue moon." Sophia could see the confusion on the alien girl's face. "I meant every once in a while and very rare. You should go. I can feel myself waking up. Thanks for the talk though, M'gann. It means a lot to me." Mind Sophia finally smiled as she closed her eyes and disappeared along with the screens before the entire room vanished from M'gann's mind. When the alien returned to her own mind, she felt wetness on her cheeks. Connor brushed them off tenderly while they both looked at the dazed girl sitting next to Artemis. Dick and Bruce had walked off somewhere to talk while Dinah and Diana watched the children. Roy sat in a corner watching the girl carefully as she rested her head on the blonde archer's shoulder with her tear streaked cheeks, lifeless blue eyes, and slightly blue lips._ I'm a horrible person_. Kaldur was also observing his teammates and Sophia. _There must be a logical explanation for this_.

Moments later a cry of pure self hatred erupted through the mountain causing the room full of heroes to jump into action. Even Sophia jumped in spite of her current mental state. The group hurried out to the young bird's room where the crying heightened. Through the heavy door they could only hear a few words, but it was obvious that Batman had revealed something about Sophia.

"Oh God... No!... I... I... She... And... I, what?" Afterwards another gut wrenching scream came loud and clear from the behind the door. No one knew what to do except for the one who suffered through everything. Sophia tried to push the door open but was stopped by a faint beep next to it from a small code box. She looked at the others but they shrugged since they had no idea what code the young Bat member would enter. Sophia sighed and pondered a moment before rapidly pressing a series of numbers. The red light on the box turned green as she entered the room surprising everyone even the room's occupants. The door shut before the rest of the group could enter, but not before they could hear the heart clenching sound of a tortured brother.

By just one look, Sophia understood everything that happened, a skill she picked up from her time as a nomad. It takes certain eye to spot out who's more willing to give a homeless girl a few coins with a bit of musically persuasion. Dick backed away from her only in regret rather than suspicion this time and ran into his closet closing the doors harshly. She looked around the room. It looked like a hurricane and an earthquake had a party, a very violent, drunk party. She saw Dick's mask thrown across the room hanging from his desk lamp. She stared at Batman and gave a small nod for him to give the two some privacy. He nodded and placed one hand on her small shoulder. Sophia almost started to cry again because as Batman left he whispered, "You'll always be a part of the family." The older twin had to recompose herself as she walked up to the closet door, just as Batman closed the door.

"Dick? Dick, please come out." Sophia heard a wet gurgle from behind the door. She sat down before the closed doors knowing that neither of them could really face each other in their current state. The girl softened her voice in a soothing manner. "I can't say that I'm fine right now but Dick, please know that I would never blame you for your reaction." There was silence ringing back to the twin, her brother uttering nothing. "I know that right now you want nothing more than to hide away from the world and more importantly me, but Dick, please don't do this to me, not after all that we've been through. The only thing that kept me sane at the Shadows was knowing you were alive and happy. Don't let me be your pain. You're my little brother forever and always. Please say something." She begged hearing the shuffling behind the door. Slowly one of the doors opened revealing a very disheveled Richard. He stared at her with tears leaking from his hyacinth blue eyes with angered guilt.

"How can you be so forgiving? After what I said. After what I did! Bruce said your heart stopped for three minutes. Three! I killed you! Me! Your brother!" He screamed crying even more at the identical faced girl. Without another word Sophia wrapped her arms around his shaking form and started to rub circles on his back. "How can you stand to be next to me? How can you not hate me?"

"Shh... Hush now." Her brother cried into her shoulder hugging her tightly as he sobbed, "I'm sorry," over and over. "I'm not dead, see? And I don't have any permanent damage. Like I said before I'm not fine with everything right now but you're my little brother. Shh… I could never hate you, though. Listen Dick, that file was correct in saying I was dead. I… I had died." The broken bird gasped in horror as he looked back up to his sister. " I... I lost a lot of blood that day and the traffickers , they had to revive me with three pints of blood since I was the only kid left." If she hadn't moved them to sit on his bed Dick would've fallen from everything. The twins sat in silence for a moment, but the atmosphere began to choke them. "Why don't we get out of this room? It's getting really cramped, and I know that I really need to fly right now. Come on, up and at them." She pulled the boy to his feet and tugged him to the door. Outside a massive group had gathered. Practically half the Justice League was there due to a call from a depressed Canary to her boyfriend who told the rest of the League since he was at the Watchtower at the time. They all waited with a bated breath as soon as the room had gone silent from Dick's cries.

Even Batman swallowed nervously in the shadows as he waited with the others for the siblings to come out. Sophia looked shocked at the mass of people but didn't express her surprise. Artemis and Wally ran up to their respective best friends to make sure they were fine. Kid Flash was called by his uncle when the Flash heard from Superman about the major blow up at the mountain; so the teenaged speedster ran straight to the closest zeta tube. Sophia gave a tiny smile as Artemis ranted about the ginger archer currently hanging from the ceiling wrapped in a net with a sign around his neck saying, "I'm the biggest jerk, idiot, annoyance on the face of the Earth, ever."

"Really, Ari, I said I'm okay. The two of us really need to go to the gym, though." Sophia spoke softly after the thousandth question from her best friend. Wally seemed to have the same interrogation method with Dick since the younger Grayson repeated the same exact words as his twin. Artemis nodded and took the two to the giant work out center in the mountain. The room was at least a football field in size and three stories high. Work out equipment littered the floor, each unique for a member of the team. The only thing Sophia noticed, however, was, no, not the Olympic size pool, not the giant shooting range, nor did she see the various treadmills, punching bags, or weights. She couldn't hold her amazement back as she gasped incredulously. Her rare blue eyes gazed upwards at the mass of ropes, pipes, beams, swings, and platforms sitting high above the floor hanging from the ceiling. Robin's mouth twitched a little upwards at the girl's reaction since it was identical to his own. Sophia dropped all sense of sadness at the sight, her spirits lifting with every look. She let out a small squeal and ran towards the rope ladder leading up to the first platform. Immediately her twin followed with equal enthusiasm. The League members and the other teens watched as the Flying Grayson twins flew off the various pipes and swings. While Sophia flipped through the air her brother swung below on a trapeze upside down waiting to catch her.

Small laughs turned into loud cries of joy as the teens' moods relaxed. The grounded heroes could hear the muffled sounds of conversation above but not the actual thing itself. Artemis shed a few tears when she saw Sophia grasp her brother's arms before they flew off another swing. Dick's signature cackle erupted through the room and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Because even though the girl was the focus in the current situation, the little bird was one of the most precious members to them, most knowing him when he first started out in the hero business at the tender age of 9. They knew him, not her, except Artemis. Everyone sat down to watch as the two aerialists performed their amazing feats. An hour later both came down dripping in sweat, breathing heavily, and resting their arms across each other's shoulder, with smiles splitting their faces. Artemis, however, noticed how Sophia's wasn't as bright as Dick's. The two Graysons agreed on taking a shower before talking to the others; so Artemis and M'gann walked off with Sophia to the showers while Dick and Wally walked back to where Roy was dangling. Roy saw the two boys and hung his head with guilt.

"Look, Dick, I am so sorry. Truly sorry for all that I did to you today. I didn't know anything but I still…" Dick glared at the older hero darkly causing the archer to drop his head again. Without another word, Dick round house kicked the hanging teen in the balls. Wally gasped at Dick's violent out break but said nothing as the bird walked up to face the regretful and pained archer.

"That was for my sister." He took out small bird-a-rang and sliced the netting around a very shocked Roy. The older teen crumpled to the floor curled up in pain but looked up at the blue eyed ravenette with confusion. "But I know you were only trying to look out for me, so thanks."

"What? I thought you'd be pissed." He received a hard punch to the arm from a certain boy wonder.

"Oh I'm more than just pissed, but Phi told me to forgive and forget. So you best be thankful because otherwise your balls wouldn't be balls anymore." Roy paled at the Romanian who smirked back at him while Wally stifled a laugh. "Now I'm in need of a shower, bye." He cackled and flipped away towards the men's locker room. Wally helped his figurative older brother off the floor.

"So uh I just got here, want to tell me what happened?"

"Not really. Let's just say I screwed up big time. Did you know Dick had a sister?"

"Uh, yeah, but you wouldn't know since you basically disappeared off the radar for the past three months! What'd you do to make him violent to hit your balls?" The ginger speedster joked at the silent archer.

"I made him believe that his sister died six years ago and that the girl who was with him wasn't his sister but actually an imposter trying to infiltrate the League through him." The archer grumbled in reply. Wally choked on air as the response caught him off guard.

"You told him that the last possible blood relative he had was an imposter using him to get to the League? Roy, are you seriously that bone headed? He's been through enough loss and have you seen her? She's a freaking carbon copy of him minus the fact that she's a girl! Batman would never let an imposter come close to this place especially his little bird. She was almost dead when we got back from a mission two days ago. Of course Batman would run blood tests on her. And what's this I hear about Dick goin berserk? Don't lie because M'gann told Artemis who told me."

"When he read the file I gave him from earlier he lost it. He threw bird-a-rangs at her chest and pulled them out! She almost bled out immediately. I know that now! I just didn't believe it since the case file had pictures of the blood lost. I don't know how she's still alive."

"I wasn't, but death didn't want me so he threw me back here." A hard but quiet voice came behind the two boys. They turned to see a black, sock footed Sophia wearing a pair of black wash skinny jeans, a grey military vest*, and a bright blue t-shirt standing with her arms across her chest. She waved away the two girls behind her, thanking Artemis for letting her borrow her old clothes, to have a chat with a certain Roy Harper. Artemis hesitated for a moment but reluctantly left with M'gann to meet up with their mentors. Roy gulped when he saw the girl's expression. There was a fire that had rekindled behind the once lifeless eyes and that fire wanted to see him burn, or so he thought. "You must be Roy." The ginger nodded and quickly grabbed the collar of an escaping speedster for nothing but support. The escaping protégé of the Flash sighed but stayed in place, very curious about the girl whose twin brother talked about for the past six months. "And you must be Wally. Hello."

"Hey, what's up?" Wally tried to lighten the mood while Roy looked like he watched a puppy being kicked. "So you're Dickie's infamous big sis? Nice to meet you." Wally earned an amused smile from the Romanian girl.

"Likewise, Wally. Can you please stop looking like someone killed your puppy? I won't stand for self-hatred." Her voice flitted over the two boys in a soft musical way. Roy stared in shock at the girl before him. "And to answer your question from before, I did die, for about three minutes. But I won't dwell on the past. Let's start over, eh? What do you say?" The girl held out a hand.

"Wha…?" Sophia rolled her eyes at the boy's slowness.

"I'm saying that I don't have any grudge against you. So shake my hand and be my friend? Ha! That rhymed!" She giggled at herself before looking at the statue-like archer. Sophia sighed and grabbed one of his hands and shook it briskly. "Hi, I'm Sophia Grayson. Please to meet you."

"Uh… Roy Harper." Roy muttered as his arm was being pumped up and down. The happy girl laughed lightly completely polar to her mood only a few hours before. She bounced away in the similar fashion of her brother towards the room full of super heroes. "She's… How…? What…?" Wally looked just as confused as his older friend while they watched the diminishing body of Sophia Grayson.

"She's must be the most forgiving person I know." Wally said to no one particularly.

"I know right?" The gingers jumped a good foot and a half when their raven headed friend emerged from the shadows behind them. He laughed at their bewildered expressions before pulling them in the direction Sophia had just flipped off to. "Come on. The League is waiting." The trio walked into the living room to see Connor and Superman sitting as far away from each other as possible on the considerably small sofa with Sophia chatting in between them. Wolf sat patiently beside the brooding super clone as Connor listened to the young aerialist. Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, and Black Canary were talking on the left of the static television while M'gann, Flash, and Green Arrow were in the kitchen snacking on some sweets M'gann had made earlier. Kaldur, Aquaman, Artemis were in between the two rooms discussing something else. Artemis walked over to the new arrivals. She went over to Wally's side before she spoke to Dick.

"Your sister is trying the impossible."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"She's trying to get the Supers to talk to each other."

"Oh come on, they can't even look each other in the eye. How do you expect her to…" Laughter filled the room just as Wally voiced his opinion. Amusement in the mountain wasn't uncommon seeing as there was a group of a teenager hanging around inside, but what was not expected was the sight of Superman and Superboy sitting next to each other with Sophia sitting on the coffee table in front of them supporting each other as they laughed their heads off. Wolf was lying by the girl's feet completely content on the petting he was receiving by the ravenette as she told another story. Everyone froze around the three as if moving would break the illusion.

"Can you believe this guy? He just walks into the store wearing nothing but a Speedo, and no joke, he starts breaking out dancing to 'I'm Sexy and I Know It' right in the middle of the medicine aisle. The police showed up in record time but when they questioned him he said that he got a note saying there was a flash mob that day. When he gave them the note saying the details of the flash mob, they informed him that the event was already over and that he was in the wrong state." Apparently this proved to be hilarious for the two Kryptonians as they fell on top of each other holding their midsections with tears rolling down their faces. Wally's eyes nearly popped out while Artemis and the others, besides Batman and Kaldur, had their jaws almost touching the floor. Robin was the first to recover as he placed a smirk on his lips and walked over to his sister. Superman also recovered fast and looked over at the two siblings. An idea sparked through his mind as he watched his clone get up.

"Hey, Connor, was it?" The super clone stiffened as did the rest of the room, not including Sophia or Roy.

"Uh, yeah, Connor Kent." Now it was Superman's turn to stiffen but he relaxed after a few seconds.

"Kent is my last name too." Connor's eyes grew wide at the knowledge. "Say, I know that I haven't been around that often…"

"You mean avoiding my existence like it's the plague?" Connor remarked earning a snicker from Dick who was promptly punched in the shoulder by his sister. Clark Kent sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah… that… Look… I… I'm sorry. I think we should start over."

"Wha…?"

"I don't think I could ever be a parent to you…" Connor and the rest of the room's occupants deflated at the path this conversation seemed to be heading, minus Sophia again. "I just don't think I can handle that responsibility. I… What I'm trying to say is… I…" Sophia could literally see what the man in blue was trying to say and rolled her pretty blue eyes at him.

"Oh come on, Kent." Everyone looked at the petite ravenette. "You've faced some of the biggest foes the Earth has ever encountered and yet you can't even tell the guy next to you that you want to be brothers instead?" She smirked as everyone besides the Dark Knight gasp in surprise. Connor looked over at Clark who was blushing from being told off by a thirteen year old girl.

"Is that true?" Connor asked hesitantly. Clark looked at him and everyone around the room with his blue eyes before heaving a large sigh.

"Yeah, it's true. I just think that being brothers will be easier than me being your father. I mean I don't feel like I would that great of a parent for you, Connor. So will you be my brother instead?" Everyone waited in anxious silence as the clone made his decision. Connor looked at the girl before him for a little push. She smiled widely and held two thumbs up next to her face. Superboy smiled back and returned his gaze to Superman's.

"Yes, I think I'd like that." The room seemed to brighten instantly at his confirmation. Sophia squealed and hugged the two new brothers tightly. She ran over to Flash and Green Arrow, both looking quite shocked but everyone else really did too.

"I believe you owe me forty dollars." The two superheroes grumbled as they pulled out a twenty from their wallets. Artemis and Wally walked over to the girl who fooled their mentors, laughing at their faces. "Guys I was just kidding! Geez I don't want your stinking money!" She laughed as she handed the bills back to their previous owners. The group laughed harder while M'gann floated over to her boyfriend smiling happily for both of the Kryptonian brothers. Dick walked over to the kitchen and spoke with Kaldur when Aquaman went to talk to Batman. Roy was still standing in the hallway with his jaw hanging open when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around with a fist ready to punch whoever was behind him. The closed hand was intercepted by another as Jason stepped out from the dark hallway.

"Dude, you could've damaged this awesomeness." Roy relaxed and dropped his fist to the outstretched one of Jason. The two teens proceeded to do a complicated handshake ritual before grinning at each other.

"It might help it, actually." He looked at the younger teen who was wearing his signature leather jacket over his hero suit. "What are you doing here?"

"Well considering it's like eight and Batman nor Robin is back to patrol Gotham, I came over here to see if they were here. They are, aren't they?"

"Yeah, they're in there. Did you know about Sophia?"

"Uh yeah, kinda had to since she came over to our place today. Not to mention, Dick had been obsessing over finding her for the past six months. Where were you in this?" The eighteen year old remained silent before a figure walked up to the two boys.

"Brownies? Cookies? M'gann made some really awesome sweets. Oh, hello Jason, nice jacket." The enigma that was Sophia Grayson smiled brightly at the teens with a plate full of treats to share. Jason said a shy hello before taking a brownie while Roy took a cookie and noticed his friend's small blush creeping out of his collar while Sophia turned to survey the room. "I'll go get Dick and Bruce for you." She whispered in his ear before she walked over to her brother who was standing next to his mentor.

"You like her don't you?" Roy leered at the pinker Jason Todd standing next to him.

"What? No! She's Dick's sister. No way. I mean she's like two-ish years younger than me. No." Roy laughed at Jason's failure to cover up his feelings. She said a few words and looked over to Jason smiling kindly while pointing at the hall for her brother and chuckled as he watched the normally collected Black Falcon blush harder from the pretty Romanian's smile. Dick and Bruce nodded in acknowledgement as they said their goodbyes to everyone, Sophia trailing slightly behind them.

"Seriously? You're the worst liar in the world, Todd."

"She's just interesting, that's all."

"Uh huh. Whatever, lover boy." Roy snickered as he heard Jason sputter out nonsense before the growl of a very protective little brother while Batman had already moved on to the zeta tubes and Sophia still trailing behind chatting with everyone. She passed the archer and smiled genuinely at him, throwing him off once again as he joined up with Black Canary and Green Arrow. The Bat family led the superheroes to the zeta tubes since it was late and they all needed to go home, besides M'gann and Connor. Just as they gathered around the tubes, one activated.

"Recognize Zatanna B08." The young magician blinked as she saw everyone crowding around the room. She scanned the room before M'gann squealed at her fellow mountain resident.

"Zee! Welcome back! How was your school trip?"

"Hey, Meg, it was great. Yellowstone was very beautiful. Did I miss a party or something."

"Or something is the better guess." Artemis hugged the magician as well followed by Dick. Zatanna gasped at the blue orbs staring at her.

"R…Robin?"

"The one and only, though around here I go by Dick." Zatanna nodded slowly in shock before she saw a head of black hair hidden behind Jason. She peered over and gasped.

"You! What the hell are you doing here?" Zatanna cried out with joy. Sophia stepped out from behind Jason staring at the magician for a second before her memory returned and gave a squeal.

"What's up, Anna? Long time no see."

"You know her, Phi?"

"Sure do, Ari. She's Dick and my god sister."

"Say what?"

* * *

*So I made a photobucket account and it has Sophia's vest on it as well as a rough sketch of the picture Alfred took from chapter 9. Check it out! The url is /KaliScarletClothing.

**Angel: **See what I did there? No? Okay then never mind... Review please! ^^

**Sonya:** Or else I'll send a ninja army after you.

**Angel:** Sony! Don't threaten the readers! Have you been hanging out with Kal again?

**Sonya: **Possibly.

**Angel: ***Groans* One Kal is enough, sis. I don't need another. Thanks for reading!


	19. Chapter 16

**Kali:** So you've posted another chapter?

**Sonya:** It's bittersweet, I think.

**Angel:** Been in an emo-ish mood lately... Strange... Is Cody home, Sony?

**Sonya:** Uh... nooo...

**Kali:** Codster is back? Oh this is going to be just so much fun.

**Angel:** Yes, we can all feel the excitement... was that sarcasm?

**Kali: **Not at all.

**Angel**: Was that sarcasm? Anyways Cody happens to be Sonya's emo twin... and my little bro. This family is so weird. Anyways I don't own any of the characters except Sophia, Tucker, and Harry... oh and the guys at the gym too.

* * *

**Happy Harbor**

**Mount Justice (8:05 P.M)****  
**  
"Say what?" Just when everyone was just starting to think their day couldn't get any stranger, life said "Just kidding! It's more screwed up than a screw!" Dick froze immediately as he looked at the equally shocked Zatanna.

"You're Phi's brother?" The boy wonder dipped his head stiffly as he stared back and forth between his crush and his sister.

"Uh… Phi?"

"Yes?"

"How…?" Dick scratched his head while everyone else decided to go back to the living room, minus the overly curious teens and a certain bat of course. Sophia sighed as she released her god sister from her bone cracking hug.

"Hmmm how to explain… Well, you see, Anna's mom was mom's best friend and the psychic working at the circus since we were born, so she was our godmother and our mom was hers. Anna lived with her for a while, five years maybe, since she was born? I'd say when we were a few months old?" She looked at the magician for confirmation. "She was staying with her mom then, since her dad was off to continue learning magic. We played every day, you know. Anyways, Anna and her mom left about the time we were six, before my abduction."

"What?" Everyone gasped.

"So that's why I couldn't remember her! I lost all memory from before then… But that doesn't explain how she would know you now. Seven years is a long time to remember someone who hasn't been seen since then." Robin pondered while looking at Zatanna. Zatanna had turned a bit pale when she noticed how this conversation was heading but gave her permission to Sophia when she silently asked the magician to continue with a hand squeeze.

"Let me finish the story, gosh darn it!" She pouted angrily at the others with her hands on her hips and leaning forward, with the male portion of the group finding the girl to be quite cute much to the disdain of her brother. "I met Anna again a couple years later on a mission from the Shadows…" There were small gasps from M'gann while the other members of the team looked at her with newfound suspicion besides a certain blonde archer and brother. "Her mom got strung into some con and tried to escape with Anna, but the Shadows weren't happy with that so they sent me to 'silence' them." Another round of shocked faces passed over the teenaged heroes. "So anyways, I busted through their apartment when they were about to flee and recognized them immediately. I couldn't kill them obviously, but apparently the Shadows thought so too since I was only… eight? Yeah, so another operative was close by. I tried my best to help them escape but we met the other assassin behind the apartment. Anna's mom muttered some sort of spell on us and pushed us down a man hole telling us to run, telling Anna to go to her father's which was where they were heading anyways. We heard a scream, a flash, and two thuds. I went up to see what happened. Anna's mom was dead along with the other operative." Sophia hugged the orphaned magician tightly as trembles started to go through her body. "I… I couldn't let her see that so I asked her to show me where her father's place was, and well the rest is pretty self explanatory." By now Zatanna was crying silently at this memory. The rest of the team came around her in a massive group hug. Sophia slipped out to let the teammates gather. Roy and Jason, however, just patted Zatanna's shoulders in comfort. She smiled painfully as she watched the others hugging the distressed conjurer.

The older Romanian looked away when a pang of jealousy shot through her chest. She breathed slowly to calm her emotions, like she had before with her brother. Sophia heard the steady sound of approaching footsteps and cleared her throat to alert the others. The Justice League saw their protégés releasing their group hug and smiling softly at Zatanna. Batman once again melted out of the shadows and gave his sons and Sophia a nod to go home. The brothers sighed but started heading towards the zeta tubes meeting with their father. Sophia was saying her goodbyes when she heard the zeta tubes transport the Bat family back to Gotham. Artemis looked a bit put off when she saw that Sophia was still at the mountain.

"They left before me, Ari. No biggie. I'll see you later?"

"Of course." Artemis eyed her friend suspiciously feeling that she wasn't revealing everything that was going inside. M'gann noticed how Sophia's presence seemed to melt away from the room as if she was blocking her emotions from the Martians in the room. With a stiff smile and one last hug with her friends, Sophia waved another goodbye and disappeared from sight.

* * *

**Gotham City**

**Old Telephone Booth (8:26 P.M)**Sophia walked down the bustling street ignoring the blaring from the cars on the road or the hollering from the people around her. She remembered that she had no shoes on and went to the closest street vendor who happened to be selling some sandals. The shoeless girl looked through the various styles before the old lady vendor. Sophia eyed a pair of metallic silver flat sandals. They were in her size, five. She looked at the price, twenty dollars. _ Why did I leave my shoes at the mountain? __Man, I should have kept the bet money_. Sophia chuckled at her thought but sighed sadly since she only had a few dollars in her borrowed jeans. The old lady behind the cart looked at her and pursed her lips.

"If you aren't going to buy anything, honey, then leave." She said bitterly. Sophia sighed and just moved on down the street, careful to not step in any puddles_. Welcome to Gotham City, home of the douches and land of the insane._She stopped at a crosswalk when she was pushed from behind by a fleeing figure into a gigantic puddle soaking her entire front.

"That's my purse! Someone stop him! He has my purse!" A woman yelled from behind puffing from the exertion. The soaked girl pushed up out of the murky water seeing red. _One day, that's all I ask for. One day where my life isn't so screwed over_. She growled after the figure and shot off in his direction. Only seconds later and a few yards away did the angered girl catch up to the escaping thief next to a park's iron rod fence. She grabbed his collar abruptly and threw him against the fence, still growling.

"Give me the damn purse." The thief, a man most likely in his forties, laughed heartily as he grabbed her wrist.

"Little girl, didn't your mommy tell you to watch your language?" This only earned him another bash into the black poles behind him.

"The purse, now." She snarled again with burning blue eyes boring into his skull. The man nearly dropped the bag but remembered their age difference. He twisted Sophia's wrist making her yelp from the sudden jolt giving the man enough time to push her against the iron face first causing her nose to start bleeding.

"I don't think so, sweetheart." By now the Romanian was more than livid, especially after the day she just had. Without another word she struck her leg full force into the thief's knee. The man yowled in pain and dropped both Sophia and the purse to the ground. The bleeding girl wiped away the blood from her nose and spat out some bloody spit from her busted lip. She slammed the man's head down on the ground with her right bare foot after removing the soaked black ones a moment earlier, eyes turning darker and darker with every passing moment. "What are you?"

"A beyond pissed off girl right now. Two things of advice, sir. One, never call me sweetheart or take people's stuff, ever. Two, talk about my parents and don't expect to see anymore." With a quick jab to the base of his neck the man slumped over in a heap only to be picked up by the thirteen year old girl and hauled back to where the distressed lady was. Sophia threw the man to the ground with a grunt and held the purse up to the shocked woman's face. Many people around her took out their phones to take pictures of the girl who took down the purse thief but failed to do so when she hid her face with her vest. The woman tried to thank the girl but noticed that she disappeared once a police cruiser showed up. Sophia stalked past a trash pile and threw her ruined black socks on top for pick up. She continued down her path, barefooted, through the dirty streets of the infamous city looking for a way to give off steam. She found her solution when she saw a twenty-four hour boxing gym with a sign saying "free day trial." The girl entered the facility and was immediately incased with the stench of testosterone, old leather, and sweat. Sophia moved to the desk where a bulky man stared at her with a piqued interest.

"Hello there. Are you lost?" Sophia frowned and stared straight into his eyes with a fierce glare.

"No, I'm interested in your free-day trial actually." The man raised an eyebrow as did many others in the gym when they spotted the girl walking in.

"Oh? And why would a pretty little girl, like yourself, be interested in that?" Sophia rolled eyes at the man before returning another stony glare.

"Because this little girl really wants to punch someone's face in and thinks it would be better to not have someone's blood all over her fist. Now then, can I do the free day trial now or will I need to go to a better place?" Sophia was at the last bit of her patience with the world and the urge to just strangle the man in front of her was getting pretty strong. Humored the buff chuckled and gave her a roll of tape.

"Just don't hurt yourself, eh, little miss?" The tense teen gave a curt nod before starting to tape her knuckles. She ignored the states she got from the obsessive body builders and headed straight towards a vacant heavy weight bag. The black cylinder was attached to the ceiling and the floor. Sophia could hear the snickers she got from behind her as the men gathered around to watch the girl try to punch the bag. With one last piece of tape wrapped around her hand, Sophia gripped her hand into a fist and the punching bag broke off from the floor. The owner and several others dropped their jaws when the girl grabbed some tools from the box behind the swinging bag and began to repair the chain.

"Sorry 'bout the chain, mister." She muttered when she realized that she broke a chain link in two. The man from the desk smirked and walked over to the girl who was sitting on the ground with duct tape and pliers.

"So you weren't kidding, little miss?" Sophia got off the floor and shook her head. "Don't worry 'bout the bag. The chain was going to be replaced anyways. Why don't you blow some steam off with Tucker? He needs a sparring partner." Sophia looked over to where the man was pointing. Tucker looked like a young kid most likely in high school, working at a gym as a starting job. The boy frowned at the thought of fighting such a small girl but then again she did just break off a heavy bag from its chain.

"I don't think that'd be the best idea, mister. Wouldn't want to hurt him." she smiled innocently though her tone was teasing at the owner as well as Tucker. The men around her laughed at her caution.

"This boy is one of Gotham North's best and youngest boxers. I'm sure you wouldn't hurt him that badly." The man beamed with pride at the clearly embarrassed boy.

"He's your son, isn't he?" Sophia asked softly. The man's laughed boomed through the small boxing gym while patting the girl on her shoulder.

"Yup. Just started as a freshman this year. So what do you say?"

"I think that'd be okay." she walked over to the red faced son. "So you want to spar? I promise not to hurt you that badly."

"And what makes you think you'll land a punch on me?"

"Just a hunch." she smirked as she walked to the large boxing ring in the center of the old gym. Tucker smirked back and followed her onto the surface of the ring. They stood in their battle stances and lunged at each other when the ding of a bell rang out through the gym. The other people gathered around the ring to watch as Sophia swung a right hook to Tucker's shoulder. The force shook through the young boxer's body causing him to freeze for a brief moment. That moment was long enough for Sophia to come at him with a straight punch but he recovered and blocked the oncoming fist just as it stopped at his gut. The boy lunged forward before pulling away to avoid his opponent's punch and then came again with a fist to the girl's face. Sophia ducked, crouching pretty low and very close to the boy's midsection. Without a moment to pause she threw an uppercut. If it weren't for the head and mouth guards, Tucker would have been in the hospital rather than on the mat with a bruised jaw. Sophia took her guards off before running over to the fallen boy with great concern, all of the anger having left her body.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to..." Tucker put up a hand to stop the girl's rambling. He rubbed his jaw while smiling.

"You've got a mean arm, little miss."

"Thanks? Um... The name's ... Mica." she offered a hand which Tucker grabbed before he was pulled up. The men around the ring clapped for both of them before resuming their work outs.

"How fitting. Strong like a rock. My name's Harry. Please to meet you."

"Thanks, I like your gym, Harry. I can see it's very... loved." the men laughed at her comment since they all knew the gym was old, worn, and somewhat moldy.

"Yeah, it's a dump I know." Tucker snickered but his dad hit him upside the head with a grunt. "Sorry, pops, but you know it's true." Harry frowned at his son but it quickly turned into a loving smile. Sophia once again had to swallow her bubbling emotions at the father-son interaction.

"So what do you think? Want to join Harry's Ring?" Tucker questioned a little too eagerly. Sophia shuffled her bare feet which the men just noticed. "Hey where are your shoes?"

"Uh... Left them at home by accident. Didn't notice til just now." Sophia lied smoothly. Tucker didn't seem to buy that after noticing her busted lip and bruised nose.

"Really now? That's rather hard to believe. Gotham's streets aren't exactly the cleanest in the world. Is your lack of shoes related to your bruised nose and busted lip?" Harry looked the girl over and frowned when he truly saw her appearance for the first time, her muddy, ripped shirt with her vest hanging open and muddy jeans that were trying to cling dry onto her legs. Her wind whipped hair hanged limply around her face. She shook her head vigorously and touched the drying cut on her lip curiously.

"Huh, didn't notice that either… I don't really have any money right now, but I think I'd like to join here." She looked at the clock hanging from the wall behind them. "Oh shoot, I needed to be home an hour ago! Uh well thanks for the fight, Tucker. It was very relieving. Thank you, Harry, for letting me stay here. I'll pay you for the chain tomorrow, promise!" The girl rushed out of the facility smiling widely as the stress had been somewhat lifted from her shoulders. She ran straight up to the Wayne household towards the wooden door and proceeded to knock softly with her head on her chest. The door opened only moments later with an accompanied gasp. The Romanian looked up to see Alfred standing there with a very relieved smile.

"Miss Sophia! There you are. Master Bruce and the others have gone on a rampage through Gotham looking for you. Where on earth have you been? Please come in." Sophia cringed at the thought of causing her brother trouble as she entered the manor.

"I'm sorry Alfred. We were leaving Mount Justice and I guess I wasn't paying attention when Dick, Bruce, and Jason left. When I got out of the zeta tube I got a little lost." She lied again since she had to know the entire layout of Gotham especially because Talia had a certain interest in the city. Alfred eyed her carefully noticing the little details she was trying to cover up, her fading bruise, diminishing lip cut, lack of shoes, and tattered clothes. The old butler pursed his lips together into a thin straight line.

"I will alert Master Bruce and the others. You, miss, should take a nice hot shower, but before then please check on the young masters. They're absolutely distraught and have barred themselves in your room along with having Master Timothy as a rather willing hostage." Sophia frowned deeply at causing so much trouble once again and nodded as she went up the stairs. When she reached her room she knocked softly on the door.

"Go away! Don't come back until you find Sophia!" She heard Tim's voice from behind while also hearing a soft melody from behind him.

"Well I found her, and she really wants to see her favorite boys. But this blasted door is in the way." The sound of pattering feet grew louder behind the door as it busted open to see a very disheveled trio. Tim had almost jumped out of his wheelchair when he saw the girl. Her sons started crying heavily into her chest when she knelt down to hug them. She soothed their hair whispering soft apologies while surveying the room. Everything was exactly as she had left it five hours ago minus the added stuffed animals on her messed up bed. She wiped the tears, snot, and dirt off the toddlers faces.

"Where in the world have you been, Sophia?" Tim wheeled over to the girl with a worried expression molded on his face. Though he would never admit it out loud, the ten year old really liked the girl, as a big sister. She had helped him and made his brother happy again. She was also very caring never making him feel like an annoying kid like his brothers sometimes did. Sophia smiled softly with apologizing eyes before she patted his shoulder not wanting to make him dirty as well.

"I'm sorry, Tim. I sorta lost my way. I'm going to take a shower and then you all are getting a hug. Damian, Terry, go change your clothes. I got them all dirty." She rummaged through her guitar case but found that her clothes had snagged her knives which ended up ripping all of her clothes. She frowned since she only had those clothes to wear. Tim also saw this and wheeled out of the room to Dick's room. He came back a few minutes later just as Sophia was figuring out how to change the rags into something to where.

"Here's one of Dickie's shirts. I'm sure he wouldn't mind you wearing it." Tim threw the black shirt over to the kneeling girl besides the guitar case. She caught the shirt and opened it to see the entire thing. It was a solid black shirt with a Batman symbol across the chest. Sophia smiled but noticed how the shirt seemed to reach her upper thigh just below her butt. She rummaged through her clothes and found a pair of clean shorts that wasn't as shredded as the others.

"Thanks. Well I need to shower so excuse me." She grabbed her clothes and walked out of the room to the bathroom down the hall. Once she shut the door Tim heard thundering coming from below as he wheeled over to the younger Waynes' room.

"Tim! Where is she?" Dick yelled breathlessly as he reached the top of the stairs with Jason and Bruce trailing behind him. The ten year old turned around in surprise.

"She's in the bathroom." Dick and Jason sighed a huge relief and slumped their shoulders forward.

"Thank God." Robin breathed before sitting down on the carpeted floor. Damian and Terry walked out of their room in fresh pajamas smiling happily before seeing their brothers and father. Terry ran over to the boy wonder bouncing like a hyper bunny.

"Dickie! Dickie! Maică came home!" The breathless bird ruffled the toddler's hair before hearing a door open down the hall. Everyone turned to see Sophia rubbing her hair with a white towel wearing Dick's shirt. Her shorts were just barely longer than the shirt. She looked over at the family gathering and smiled meekly.

"Hey guys." Dick ran over to his sister in a giant hug tears almost leaking out. "Sorry for the trouble."

"Where have you been, Phi? I thought you were right behind us."

"Uh… Yeah I was but I was talking to Ari, M'gann, and Anna. I didn't notice you had left until too late. Sorry."

"I'm sorry too! I should have been with you! I'm such a horrible brother." Sophia chuckled while rolling her eyes and patting her brother's head.

"Yeah you are. I just showered and now you've made me all dirty again. Why are you still in uniform?"Jason and Dick looked down to see their muddy Kevlar suits flaking off on the carpet while Bruce had already taken his cape off and folded it over his arm. "Oh by the way, I need to borrow another one of your shirts."

"Okay? What happened to your other clothes?"

"Apparently, my knives decided it would be funny if they ripped through their pocket and shred my clothes." Her brother's mouth formed a perfect "o" before he headed back into his room to find another shirt. Jason couldn't help giving a once over at the younger girl but quickly reminded himself about all the reasons why that was a very bad mistake. He quickly ran off to his room with the curt excuse of "I need to change." Sophia waited outside her brother's door and was almost hit in the face when the door opened again. Dick threw two clothing items at his twin, a blue cotton dress and an oversized solid green shirt. She started laughing once she realized what the blue fabric was. "Tell me, Dick. Why do you have this again?" Tim snickered while Bruce scowled as would any father whose son possessed no girlfriend but feminine clothing.

"It was an prank from Artemis." Dick blushed darkly but spoke with a straight face. "I thought it'd be better if you had it." She chuckled as Bruce rolled his eyes and went away to change himself.

"It's lovely. Thanks. Well you should hit the showers. I'll see you later." She hugged the muddied boy before slipping down the hall into her room to change again. Tim settled back into his own room only to hear soft footsteps creeping behind him trying to climb onto his bed. Whirling around Tim found a smiling Sophia sitting right in the middle of his giant bed. The boy noticed two balls of black hair were curled up beside her, and she pressed a finger to her mouth. Tim wheeled himself over to his bed and saw his baby brothers sleeping peacefully on the older girl's lap. She was running her fingers through their soft hair. "They must have been quite a handful."

"You could say that." Tim whispered back.

"Thank you, Tim. I know they're not exactly your favorite people in the world." The ten year old sputtered incredulously at her words. "Tim, it's easy to see that you feel a bit jealous. It's only natural since you were the youngest of the family and now you're a middle child. Don't try to tell me otherwise." Tim closed his mouth with a snap and looked away slightly blushing. "It's nothing to be ashamed of." She quietly picked up the sleeping toddlers and walked to the doorway. "I'll be right back." Sophia moved down the hall a room over to the little boys' room. Inside was a large queen sized bed surrounded by toys and books. Gently she laid the two onto the center of the mattress, tucking them under the tan duvet, and turned but was stopped when she felt a small pull on the hem of her green shirt. Damian stared at the girl he's known as mom for his entire life and let a few tears fall with a pouting lip.

"Shh…Shh… my little tiger. Don't cry." She pulled the crying boy close towards her, rubbing circles on his tiny back.

"I thought you gave us away again, maică."

"I would never do that again willingly, understand? You and your brothers are the most precious people to me. Shh… my baby, let's go to sleep, hmm?" The boy snuggled next to the teenaged mother before closing his eyes slowly, falling under the sandman's spell. She sang a lullaby as she stroked both of her sons' hair wiping away the small tears falling down the brothers' faces. Quietly she moved away from the giant bed and slipped back into the hall where she found Tim trying to roll back into his room. She giggled before she grabbed the chair's handles and pulled back. With shocked grunt, the middle child of the Wayne household found himself in a loving hug. Feelings of comfort and love radiated into his frame causing him to tear up. He hadn't truly felt these emotions since he was just arriving at the manor when he was seven. Sure, his family always made him feel loved, but Sophia's hug reminded him of his mom before she fell into her fatal alcohol addiction. That feeling of a mother's protection hadn't been felt by young Tim Drake-Wayne in over six years of his life. He would never say outright, but he missed his mom's hugs especially when he was feeling down or hurt. All too soon Sophia released the young boy and smiled with a look of sisterly compassion as she noticed the boy's head drooping forward.

"Thank you, Tim." The ten year old leaned his head to the side with a bleary, confused look on his face. "For taking care of Damian and Terry. You're a great kid, you know. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Well, you should go to bed. It's almost eleven! Come on. Scoot!" She wheeled the sleepy boy into his room before helping him crawl under his covers. When she reached the door she heard her name being called.

"Hey, Sophia?"

"Yeah, Tim?"

"Could you be my mom too?" Sophia smiled widely at the glassy eyed child and walked back over to his bedside.

"Of course. I can be your mom or your sister, whichever one you want. Good night, Tim." She kissed his forehead and watched him sigh contently before snuggling deeper into his covers. Outside she closed the door slowly behind her careful to not make a sound for the light sleeper. She nearly shrieked when Dick and Jason blew into her ears but instead chose to slap both of them rather hard upside their heads. The two silly brothers just grinned as they rubbed their smarting heads following Sophia downstairs to the kitchen. Just as her foot stepped on the tiled floor her stomach growled thunderously. Dick snickered before throwing her a box of cereal.

" Lucky Charms? Seriously? Alfred lets you eat this?" She proceeded to pour herself a bowl and handed it to Jason who also grabbed a bowl.

"Actually, miss Sophia, I don't condone this type of food, but Master Richard seems to always find a way to stock it." The elderly butler stood behind the trio of teens making them jump back in surprise. Dick almost fell over his chair when he tried to jump into the closest person's arms. Sophia caught her idiotic brother before dropping him promptly to the floor.

"Phi!" he whined while Jason snickered, Alfred coughed, and Sophia had her ever present smirk set. Bruce entered at that moment with a humored frown (**A/N: Ha! Oxymoron… I think… Uh…. Just keep reading…**). The only girl in the room finished her sugary meal and continued to wash her bowl and spoon. She stretched up towards the ceiling before sighing in content. Sophia passed everyone in the kitchen and leaned against the door frame.

"Good night, everyone." She smiled when everyone responded as well before heading up to her room again. Shutting the heavy door quietly, but not fully, she released every emotion she bottled up from today. Everything flowed out of her with a practiced silence, not wanting to draw attention from the home's occupants. She curled up on the bench below her window, her back leaning against the wall looking up into the night sky. The moon was full, shining directly into her tear-streaked face like a soft caress. Her bright blue eyes sparkled under the light as she slowly calmed herself as always. Sophia grabbed her beloved guitar standing on a small stand next to her and started tuning.

Jason and Dick walked up the back staircase to their rooms. Jason made sure Dick was in his room, the one across from Tim's, before crossing over the toddlers' and Sophia's room. Just as he reached his door, the sixteen year old heard the soft rifts of a guitar playing. He noticed that the door was slightly open so he checked both directions of the hall before sneaking up to the door's crack pushing it open a bit more to let him see into the room.

_~Blackbird singing in the dead of night~  
~Take these broken wings and learn to fly~  
~All your life~  
~You were only waiting for this moment to arise.~  
_

Jason watched as her fingers flitted over the guitar while her other hand strummed the old looking guitar.

_~Blackbird singing in the dead of night~  
~Take these sunken eyes and learn to see~  
~All your life~  
~You were only waiting for this moment to be free.~  
_

The guitarist glowed a pale blue from her window's light with her black hair taking on a soft white halo, but her eyes seemed to stare off into a distant memory.

_~Blackbird fly~_

_~Blackbird fly~  
~Into the light of the dark black night.~  
_

Sophia's voice filled the room but her song was so melodic that it would only put the residents into a deeper slumber.

_~Blackbird singing in the dead of night~  
~Take these broken wings and learn to fly~  
~All your life~  
~You were only waiting for this moment to arise~  
~You were only waiting for this moment to arise~  
~You were only waiting for this moment to arise~_

The Romanian girl's voice got caught in her throat as she strummed the last few chords, her trance broken. Sophia laid her guitar beside her on the window bench and looked once more outside her window.

"It's an old song my mom sang to my brother and me when we were little." She said so softly that Jason barely caught it, almost thinking he was imagining it. "Said it was from the Beatles and would help her through a bad day. Not to be rude or anything, but what do you want Jason? Bruce?" Jason hadn't even noticed his adoptive father behind him but felt the man just look in at the girl before disappearing down the hall into his room. Sophia hadn't moved her eyes away from the Gotham skyline but heard as Jason shuffled from one foot to the other unsure what to do with his little brother's twin. She sighed heavily but slowly turned her slightly red eyes only to see that Jason decided to play coward.

_Alone again, I see_.

* * *

**Angel: **Okay so the song is Blackbird by the Beatles obviously... Love this song. Don't judge me! Unless you leave a review because then by all means please judge me! :D Thanks for reading!

**Sonya:** Such a strange request... my poor mental sister. Please review this story. Reviews are like oxygen to her. No reviews and she holds her breath until you do... not a pretty sight. Thanks for reading!


	20. Chapter 17

**Angel:** Okay so I know this update is slow for me but I just couldn't think of anything from the oxygen deprivation... So PLEASE REVIEW!

**Kali:**You're exaggerating. Truth is that you were a lazy bum watching Star Wars.

**Angel:** ... noo... I really did become light headed! Anyways please review! And I no own anything related to DC Comics!

* * *

**Star City (Four months ago)**

**Star City World History Museum (12:03 A.M)**

Two figures fly across the roof top of the tourist attraction before finding an air vent into the building. Off on another roof top, another shadow was pursuing them, arrow ready. With a practiced jump and landing, the archer slipped into the same vent as the intruders and listened for footsteps through the hall. A few steps past the African exhibit, Star City's second masked archer found himself sprawled on the cold stone floor, his vision spinning from a blow to the back of his head. He was only slightly aware of the two dark forms in front of him talking mockingly over his position. He grunted with a strained anger when a wave of pain flooded his mind. Roy found himself kneeling on the floor facing three people now.

"Psimon." The inhuman face of Queen Bee's agent stood arrogantly in front of Roy. As he tried to stand, the pain around his skull tightened causing him to fall over clutching his head. He could feel another body close to him, a female body.

"Welcome to the Light, my dear Broken Arrow." A seductive whisper echoed through his pain induced haze before he completely shut down entirely. Unbeknownst to him, his mind was receiving underlying missions that could jeopardize not only himself but also everyone he's ever known and loved.

* * *

**Happy Harbor (Present)**  
**Mount Justice (8:12 P.M)**

"Recognize Black Falcon C03. Recognize Batman 02. Recognize Robin B01. Recognize Sophia Grayson, guest." The Young Justice team turned to see the Bat family and Sophia walk into the debriefing room. Curious as to why Black Falcon and Batman were present at the mountain the group of teens filed into the room. Red Arrow, who had arrived minutes before the new arrivals, looked at Sophia with cautious acceptance. Black Falcon pulled up a holographic screen to show various burglaries around the world; all had a certain figure fleeing the scene with black cases.

"For the past three months, every S.T.A.R Lab in the United States have been robbed." Batman informed the teens. "In each burglary, only trivial substances were taken." Kid Flash opened his mouth to ask a question. "However, combined, the product could prove disastrous." The yellow-clad speedster closed his mouth. "The League has yet to identify the culprit shown in the surveillance feeds, but we have deduced that the robber is male, six two, and highly skilled in infiltration. Our sources say that the stolen items are currently being held in Gotham's dockside warehouses. Black Falcon will be with you on this mission since he has the most experience with the docks. It will be best to have an extra pair of eyes there. This is solely for reconnaissance, nothing more. Any sign of trouble, leave and report back to me. You will leave in ten minutes." Red Arrow and Black Falcon high fived each other before sporting silly grins as they started catching up while the rest of the team looked expectantly at Batman. "Sophia is here for another check up. She will not be joining you." Sophia smiled and said her goodbyes before following the Dark Knight down to the medical bay where Martian Manhunter was waiting with Black Canary.

"So…" Sophia started as she bounced alongside Batman. "Are there any suspects, yet?"

"No."

"Not even a small hint?"

"No." The cowl covered man continued down the hall and turned a sharp right to the white double doors. They slid opened to reveal his co-workers exchanging small chat before noticing their patient walking calmly towards them.

"Hi! We haven't really met before. I'm Sophia, but you can call me Phi." Dinah gave a quizzical glance at Batman but he returned the gaze with nothing but his usual frown. The blonde grabbed Sophia's outstretched hand into a firm hand shake and released smiling kindly.

"Hello, Phi. I'm Black Canary. M'gann said she had some worries about your… psychological state. Sorry, that came out wrong. What I mean is that I'm here to listen to anything you need to say."

"I… I don't know what she means by that, but thanks for the offer."

"Miss Sophia," the Martian stepped in after talking to Batman. "Have you noticed any changes in your health since the last time you were here?"

"Nope," She smiled almost too cheerfully. "I've been pretty well so far. I haven't had loss of appetite, no real abnormalities in my daily routine, and I've been sleeping eight to ten hours a day." Dinah exchanged a glance with Batman who gave a small nod to her suspicion that the girl wasn't really telling the truth. "My wounds have all healed and I've been exercising daily." She lifted Tim's borrowed gray t-shirt revealing smooth sun tanned stomach but not higher than the bottom of her bra. She had raided Tim's closet for a smaller shirt since the other two older boys' clothes were too big while the ten year old just muttered things in mock annoyance.

"You've had much experience in check ups." J'onn stated though it sounded more of a question. Regardless, the teenaged ex-villain nodded. The alien found the girl to be quite interesting as he and Dinah interacted with her. Just as his niece had told him earlier, the young Romanian managed to block not only her mind but also her presence entirely if she felt threatened or questioned. She was also very out-going not very shy with her actions. The green skinned League member, however, could not imagine why such a young girl would need to block herself off in front of three people known for saving lives. Black Canary also noticed something strange about the girl before her. Dinah had never encountered a girl like her before and would have to ask the girls from Young Justice to help decipher her.

"Can I go now? I mean if I don't have anything wrong with me. I promised a friend I would spar with him today." She looked over to her brother's mentor who stared at her sternly before giving her a nod. She smiled widely and sprang a flying hug onto the Dark Knight before leaving him with two very confused co-workers. Dinah was trying to hold back a giggle when she saw Bruce's face flare a bright red when Sophia tackled him. Clearly the man did not know how to handle a teenage girl especially one who would most likely become his adopted daughter. Sophia apologized for her spontaneous display before shooting down to the zeta tubes and transporting back to Gotham.

"Batman," The non-meta human looked over to his green friend and coworker with a usual frown. "About Sophia, she has an interesting talent that I have never come across in all my time on this planet." Black Canary and Batman listened to their Martian associate as he spoke of his observations about the older Grayson twin.

* * *

**Gotham City**  
**Harry's Ring (9:34 P.M)**

"Come on, Tucker! Don't let her get ya!" Jeers and shouts surrounded the two teens currently circling each other in a boxing ring. They stared at each other waiting to see who would pounce first, sweat dripping down Tucker's body while Sophia had a light sheen. Typically Sophia would jump out first with a fist ready to pound the boy's face right away when they started sparring but she found that if she drew the fight out longer, Tucker would eventually make a funny mistake and call it even since he hated losing. Tucker feinted a left hook but came up with an uppercut seconds later slamming into his partner's face guard. With a grunt Sophia fell backwards hard on the mat before flipping back up wiping away loose spit from her mouth guard. She gave a silly grin as Tucker rushed over to help her and pulled a gloved fist back. Tucker flew across the ring seconds later with his eyes bugging out comically. He stumbled up again when a large wall intercepted the two teens. Sophia was breathing a bit harder than normal while her sparring partner could be seen physically panting but had a determined look in his brown eyes. The whooping and hollering around the ring died down and dispersed as Harry laughed at the two kids.

"I think that's enough for today. You have school tomorrow, son." Harry placed his hands on his son's sweaty shoulders and looked over to Sophia. "You as well, Mica." Sophia smiled as she removed her head and mouth guards though it didn't reach her eyes. Her gloves were taken by another gym regular who stuck around to help. Tucker went over to his water bottle before dumping half of its contents all over his head and then proceeded to shake his wet mop of hair all over Sophia. "Hey! You better clean that up."

"Whatever, pops," He laughed when he saw Sophia glaring at him with large wet spots all over her shirt. "A little water doesn't hurt no one, Mica."

"Unlike you I have to walk home so this is very inconvenient. And it's anyone, Tucker. Not no one. The American education system is on the decline I tell you." She smirked as she heard Harry chuckle under his breath while staring at a very scandalized Tucker.

"Well I've never … since you downplay American schooling so much you must've had the world's best at your knees." Tucker returned with a sly grin of his own.

"Of course, I'm just that talented." The two teens laughed while getting out of the ring to grab their things. "Your uppercut has gotten a lot better since we started. Keep at it and you just might cause some damage." Tucker chuckled deeply before catching the girl's little gibe and letting out a small whine. She laughed playfully before stopping at the gym's door. Tucker whipped his towel around his neck as he followed her up to the front desk where he leaned against the counter using his hand to prop up his head.

"Same time tomorrow?"

"Oh I don't know... maybe. Go put a shirt on. You'll get sick from the back draft."

"Whatever, _mom_." The girl laughed and slapped his arm playfully before recoiling from the amount of sweat still on him.

"Gross! I'll see ya later, slick. Bye Harry, thanks!" The owner shouted a gruff goodbye as he helped another regular with his punches. Sophia waved another goodbye to the shirtless boy before disappearing onto Gotham's streets. She raced down the streets but heard an explosion close by. Looking over towards the source she saw smoke pluming from the docks. Gasping in horror she pushed her body over to the waterfront in hopes her brother and friends weren't injured. What laid before her as she got there made the ravenette almost scream in terror. Flashbacks of bodies lying all over the ground as fire raged on the burning warehouse flew across her eyes when she spotted her friends and brother struggling to get up or unconscious. They were sprawled out in a ring around two figures. One was on his knees while the other stared down at him. The ex-thief recomposed herself as she snuck her way to a closer position for a clearer look.

"What did you do to them, Psimon? I'll kill you." Red Arrow's voice came out in short gasps as the psycho continued to squeeze the air out of the archer's chest mentally. From her angle, Sophia could see the archer but he wasn't wearing his quiver or his bow. Out of the corner of her eye the hidden girl caught movement behind the two cutting across the burning wall.

"I had some fun that's all. You have no control over this matter though. All your arrows are broken."

"Where are the stolen goods?"

"Ah…Ah… as you can see they're not here. Don't worry though, they're pretty secure."

"You, not so much." Black Falcon jumped out from the rubble and landed right onto the telepath's back causing him to fall onto Red Arrow who flipped around delivering a heavy blow to his creepy skull. The Bialian agent crumpled to the ground where he was tied up by the two teens. Black Falcon quickly went to the others checking their pulse and noting any injuries. Sophia dropped down from the beams she was on, only to get a flying bat-a-rang in her face. Had she not caught the weapon the young Romanian would have added yet another facial wound to her collection.

"Hey to you too." She smirked as Red Arrow lowered his found bow and quiver while Black Falcon stood beside an unconscious Kaldur with a guilty frown set on his mouth. "It's pretty hot in here. Wanna get these people out of here before the gas line bursts?" Immediately the three set out to carry each of their friends out of the burning building hearing the loud screams of a fire truck blaring down the streets. Just as they got the last one out Sophia remembered that Psimon was still in the building. She rushed in much to the disbelief of her friends and quickly located the tied up villain who had regained consciousness. Without second thought she pulled the man out of the deteriorating building just as the roof caved in. Looking around Sophia relaxed slightly as she saw that no one was around to see her with him at the moment. She wiped away the theatrical make up around her eyes revealing her infamous tattoos. Psimon looked up in shock at her before cowering in fear.

"_**Hello there Mr. Jones. Remember me**_?"

"M… Miss Diamond… What are you doing here?"

Saving your sorry butt. I'm very disappointed in you Simon. Not only did you leave your post on my team but you also had the audacity to follow that inferior excuse of a queen instead. I am not happy. The girl switched over to her infamous eye language.

"I'm sorry! Please forgive me." He bowed his head meekly trying to avoid any and all eye contact. Sophia grabbed his lower jaw and forced it up to look at her face. The thirty year old shook in fear before his previous, thirteen year old leader.

Have you forgotten the reason behind your powers? I wonder what it will mean if they vanished.

"No! Never! I'm forever in your debt. I'll do whatever you ask." Sophia turned her eyes onto her underling eyes glowing slightly under the fire light.

I don't think that will suffice, Simon. You see I view betrayal very harshly. Yours cost me my shipment last year.

"Please I'll make it up to you! I know things!"

Things? And how would this interest me?

"It has to do with the stolen goods!" Sophia's eyebrow rose expectantly with hints of intrigue. "Yeah. Like who's stealing everything."

Go on.

"It's that archer! Kid's working for the Light!"

And you would know this, how?

"I… can't tell you… Queen's orders…" He dropped off the sentence as he felt the air around him thicken with every second the girl bore her darkened blue eyes into him. He glanced meekly at the thirteen year old regretting it entirely as she glared intensely at him.

Pity. You should have known better and would have lived a far better life, but now you're reduced to being a lackey for the queen of a ridiculous country, a queen whose powers were also given to her by me. You should know what happens now. She leaned over to the side of his head bringing her lips right up to his ears.

"Please, Miss Diamond! I can't go back! I can change! I beg of you!" The villain thrashed around violently but Sophia would have none of that.

"_**Cease**_." He stopped moving, barely breathing. "_**All your powers are gone. You are human again. Forget everything after you got your powers. You're in remission as well. Goodbye, Mr. Jones.**_" The former telepath slumped over as his skull returned to its previous shape. He screamed in agony as his skull reformed turning from transparent to opaque. Sophia quickly ran to the approaching heroes while reapplying some makeup she had in her pocket around her eyes.

"What's happening?" Robin was the first on the scene.

"I don't know! I was helping him out of the building and he started to do this! His skull is weird." The heroes all looked at the man who had tears streaming down his face. They were in shock at seeing their enemy so hurt and so normal looking. Eventually his screams reduced to nothing and the team gathered around him. Carefully they carried the man to the nearest ambulance where he was treated like any other victim. The team departed from Sophia who said she had to return home and left for Mount Justice.

* * *

**Happy Harbor**  
**Mount Justice (10:20 P.M)**

"It was all a trap. The stolen things weren't there at all, just Psimon. Sophia had helped him out of the warehouse before Psimon started screaming and his skull became normal again." Robin relayed the mission to his mentor while the others were being checked by J'onn for any mental stress from the former telepath. Batman's frown deepened a bit as he soaked in the information. He would have to talk to his son's twin later. _Her name is Sophia, Bruce_. Batman inwardly sighed at himself. He had yet to actually see her as family even though he had told that she was a part of his. What he said to her was out of a paternal instinct rather than a rational decision, making him feel guiltier about his actions. The girl had obviously wanted a family to belong to, but the Dark Knight knew that his trust could not be easily given as quickly as he had made it seem. Really, she only had her adopted sons who adored her immensely, and he also knew that she knew she couldn't really claim them as hers either since they were his sons. Dick had been very open about his newfound relative but it was obvious that the young adolescent was still weary of her, even if he tried to hide it. Jason's opinion of the girl was still confusing for the teen from the older hero's view. He liked her but couldn't see past the big, sister sign currently hanging around her neck. Bruce's middle son, Tim, already attached himself to the orphaned girl like a barnacle similar to his youngest sons. The dark vigilante pinched the bridge of his nose as he continued to think about the situation.

"Batman…" Robin called out to his mentor who seemed to have zoned out during his report. "Batman, are you in there?" His son waved a gloved hand goofily in front of his face before he refocused on his surroundings. Bruce snapped his head up to see everyone standing around him for instructions.

"Right, I will need a fully detailed written report from each member, but for now good work. You may leave."

* * *

**Gotham City**

**Wayne Manor (11:00 P.M)**

A giant mahogany door silently closed as Sophia exited her boys' room.

_They're not really yours._ A treacherous voice crept into her thoughts. Its sickly sweet tone dripped all around her mind.

_Not you again! I got rid of you last time, didn't I? _

_Darling, I can't be ridden from you. I am you. _ She groaned silently before heading over to Tim's room to check on him. His door opened with a tiny squeak from the door hinges causing the sleeping boy to roll over under his covers. Sophia continued her stealth like gait towards his bed, stopping just short of the bed's edge. Looking down at the slumbering boy, the intruder notices his face twisting into an expression of fear and panic. Moments pass and Tim's breaths turn into soft gasps before increasing to an alarming speed. Sophia recognized the oncoming signs of a nightmare and quickly wrapped the thin ten year old into a loving hug. Tim bolted forward with arms and feet flailing and his eyes darting around his room. Feeling the arms around him Tim stiffened at the thought that his dream was actually reality. The Romanian girl began to rock back and forth singing the same tune she sang for him at his kidnapping attempt. The boy started to cry and placed his face into Sophia's shoulder while having slow circles rubbed onto his back.

_~Just close your eyes~_

_~The sun is going down~_

_~You'll be alright~_

_~No one can hurt you now~_

_~Come morning light~_

_~You and I'll be safe and sound~_

Tim's tears died down leaving a giant wet spot on her shoulder, not that she cared at the moment. Finally the little boy's body relaxed into sleep from the exhaustion of crying. Sophia laid him back down onto his bed and brushed aside his long bangs before wiping away the residual tears.

_~Just close your eyes~_

_~You'll be alright~_

_~Come morning light,~_

_~You and I'll be safe and sound…~_

She hummed the rest of the song before slipping away to her own room. Outside the door Alfred stood stiffly with a slight smile on his lips and nodded his good night. Sophia returned the gesture but paused when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Her brother's head popped out into the hallway first with a smile. Sophia noticed, however, that his smile seemed strained, hesitant even at first, before being replaced by a cordial smile similar to someone meeting someone new for the first time. She wouldn't deny that it hurt a lot when she noticed this, especially when it happened every time they met up. The Romanian girl knew how to school her emotions to deceive but sometimes she felt her mask crack whenever she was with her remaining blood relative.

"Hey thanks for the help by the docks. You were a big help."

"No problem, Dick." She smiled lightly almost too forced but it went unseen by her happier brother who looked back over to the stairs at the oncoming footsteps of his adoptive father. Bruce came up and the girl could also see the jerk of vacillation before he also came over to say his good nights. Jason climbed up last after having to clean the crumbs he made in the Batmobile from some snacks he snagged from the mountain. His smile was the only one of the three that showed no wavering of thoughts or uncertainty which made Sophia's eyes water a little. She faked a yawn as a tear broke free from her eyes so that the men in front of her wouldn't not worry.

"Great job at the docks, Sophia. Would've been a bit worse than it should have."

"It's fine. I was in the neighborhood anyways. Well I'll be going to sleep now. Good night all." She waved a little before disappearing into her room. _Not your room. _"Shut up." She whispered as she curled up into a ball under the glow of the moon once more. No amount of singing could draw her out of the downward spiral she had stepped into. "It'll be okay. I'll be fine. I'll be fine…" Again the girl cried herself to sleep leaning against her one corner of the room beside the window bench.

* * *

"This just in, a long standing missing persons case has just been closed. Simon Jones was found around 10:10 P.M today at Gotham City's dockside. Today, the docks of Gotham experienced a heavy explosion in one of their old warehouses. Officials have yet to find the cause. Simon Jones was a victim found caught in the explosion and was quickly rescued by a group of caped teenagers. Jones was stage three brain cancer patient who was given only a few months to live. It is unknown as to why the missing patient from Louisville, Kentucky, would end up as far north as Gotham, but the police believe that his disappearance was related to similar kidnappings at other mental hospitals. His condition has been stabilized and incredibly his cancer has gone into remission. It is truly a miracle. Stacy Grendel, GBS news."

"It seems, my daughter, that your sources are unreliable these days."

"Father, I can assure you that that girl will be dealt with immediately."

"We can only hope the other members of the Light will not connect Psimon's degeneration with her or us. She is nothing but a nuisance that I have decided to be rid of. You should have never have bought her those seven years ago."

"Forgive me, Father."

* * *

A/N: Until next time! ^^ Thanks for reading!


	21. Chapter 18

**Angel:** Ah! I'm sorry for the late update! Band camp just finished for me and it was super exhausting!

**Kali:** No excuse you lazed around for hours after.

**Angel:** You didn't have to tell them that! And I didn't laze around it was nine when I got back. I was dead tired!

**Kali:** No matter. Anyways just do your stupid legalities and let's go! I want to eat breakfast sometime this morning!

**Angel:** Fine, fine, don't get your knickers in a twist. Pft I've always wanted to say that. Anyways, do I really have to say it? I mean we all know that I'll never be awesome enough to own DC Comics like ever, so what's the point?

* * *

**Gotham City**

**Gotham Heights (7:00 A.M)**

"Mom! Have you seen my skirt?" Artemis yelled into the hall but heard nothing in reply. Cautiously she ventured down to her mom's room and knocked on the door. "Hey, mom?…" Being a superhero prepared Artemis for almost everything, almost, but when she opened the door she was shocked to see her mom hanging by her neck as she clawed at the strangling hooded figure gasping for air trying to tell her to run. Artemis dropped her hair brush she had in her hand before feeling a presence behind her. Just as she turned around she saw orange lenses then nothing.

* * *

**Gotham Academy (8:30 A.M)**

"Hey, Babs! What's wrong? You look a little pale." Dick leaned his head to the side while Barbra Gordon started trembling. Almost immediately the red headed girl fell to her knees on the school's courtyard. Dick knelt down beside her and rubbed her back gently as Jason, Sophia, and Alfred walked up to the two.

"She's been kidnapped!"

"Who, Barbra?"

"What happened, Dick?"

"I don't know, Jay. Babs, who's been kidnapped?"

"Artemis!" The group froze in shock before the now crying girl.

"What?" Jason and Dick yelled.

"My… my dad got a call almost an hour ago minutes ago. Someone from Gotham Heights called about a fight next door. It… was Artemis's apartment. …Wh… when dad got there the place was trashed. Artemis and her mom were gone. The forensics team only found a wall dripping in blood saying 'Bring us BC to the shipping yard by noon or the girl and her mother will die. ' Who is this BC? What does he have to do with Artemis?" By now Barbra was sobbing in Dick's arms being given the best supporting hug he could give while glancing over to Sophia peculiarly. Jason gripped his fists together trying to keep calm. Sophia stood statuesque and almost stopped breathing entirely when she saw the accusing glare that briefly flashed behind her brother's blue eyes, so fast that she thought she had imagined it. She turned to Alfred who stood solemnly behind the group of teenagers trying to distract the passersby from investigating further. The girl walked up to the butler stiffly looking over at the trio behind them. Barbra and Dick were getting up off the floor and heading into the school with Jason stalking behind.

"I think it would be best if I don't follow Dick to his school today. I need to take care of something. I'll see you later, Alfred." The girl walked swiftly back to the waiting limousine, ignoring the calls from the British butler, and dug around the back for her duffel bag she had hidden under the seats previously. Quickly she scampered off to the closest place to change, a cluster of tall bushes. As quickly as she could, the girl donned her old uniform, visibly shaking as the stretchy material slid over her body. She placed the mask over her face, exhaling deeply to remove the fear from her eyes. Hang in there Artemis!

* * *

**Gotham Dockside (8:59 A.M)**

Artemis blinked slowly as her vision began to refocus uttering a soft groan when she felt wetness slide down the side of her face. She could smell the familiarly foul ocean stench and listened as the sea gulls cried outside. It was pitch black where they were except for a small flickering battery lamp and the door sill of their box. When she could finally see again, she saw her mother slumped over next to her breathing heavily while facial wounds could be seen crusting over. The blonde archer tried to cry out to her but the only noise that came out was a weak croak. This was enough for Paula though, for she lifted her head slowly and saw her daughter looking fearfully at her. The paralyzed mother smiled the best she could but winced every time she pulled her wounds. Heavy footsteps echoed through their captivity center, a shipping crate. A flood of sunlight filled the room blinding the women for a moment before seeing a tall feminine figure in the doorway.

"Long time, no see."

"Talia," Paula croaked out. "What do you want?"

"Nice to see you again, Paula. I'm here for your daughter, actually. Hey there, sweetie, remember me?" Talia's voice oozed with sickly sweet syrup. Artemis glared up defiantly at her but decided against saying anything. "Now, now, Paula I thought you would've taught your child some manners." Artemis didn't even feel the slap until seconds after the noise had finished bouncing off the metallic walls. She only looked at the floor beside her in shock but quickly recovered. Talia gripped a fist full of blonde strands creating a small cry from the archer and backed her against the metal wall by her throat with the other hand. "Where is your precious friend?"

"Who?" Artemis gasped out, gaining her voice again.

"Don't play dumb with me, little girl. Where is Black Cardinal?"

"I… I don't know who that is." She gasped for air as Talia tightened her grip around the girl's neck.

"Where is she?"

"I don't know who you're talking about! Mom, who is this lady? Make her stop, please!" Tears started streaming down Artemis's tanned face. The ex-villainess immediately picked up her daughter's plan and looked over to Talia.

"Talia, please stop this. She doesn't know who you're talking about. Artemis lost all of her memories from before she was eleven after falling down a flight of stairs four years ago. Black Cardinal has never contacted us since our time in Arabia!" Talia looked over her former partner in crime for a moment and then released the girl who slid down the wall gasping in large amounts of oxygen.

"Very well then, I suppose I should let you go… however, you two are far too precious to BC; therefore, I think I'll hold onto you two for now." She chuckled a little before closing off the sun again for the two Crocks.

"No!" Artemis ran after her but ended up getting a face full of metal. She dragged herself over to her mom and hugged her. The former Huntress returned the gesture and whispered soothing words in her ear. Meanwhile Sophia stalked around from above the shipping yard on her perch from a loading crane. She tensed herself when she saw the states her best friend and figurative mother were in. It had only taken a few seconds to take down the guard at the entrance and swipe his communicator.

"We will take these two and lure Black Cardinal out to the Nevada desert. I want everyone to have their eyes out for her. We leave in ten minutes. The police here are incompetent fools. Pack up." The comm buzzed as Talia's voice spoke. Just hearing her voice, Sophia began to shake with fear and anger as flashbacks came more rapidly. She looked from her vantage point for Artemis's crate. From the loading crane she saw two sentries at one end of a dull gray crate talking to each other. Without a second thought she free fell from the top of the crane down to a hanging chain a few feet away. Silently she dropped down to the ground and crept around to the back completely hidden from the two Shadows operatives. She took out a small chip from her side pouch and placed it on the wall when the comm buzzed again, "I have second thoughts. Kill the two. Black Cardinal will be too distraught to keep us off her.  
The ex-Shadows' pet flipped onto the top of the crate and flew down landing on top of the two guards. They crumbled to the ground silently but others were coming up in their stead. Behind the crate the chip started working on melting a hole through the metal sheet. The occupants inside stayed in the middle of the crate after noticing that both ends could result in some sort of injury. Next to the door Sophia was avoiding knives, bullets, webs, and fists while knocking down assailant after assailant.

"Stop!" Sophia turned around to see Artemis and Paula on their knees with at least two guns and a sword poised at their heads. Talia stood in between the two captives smirking. "My darling pet," Sophia raised her arms up in defeat before being shoved by a gun's barrel towards her former master. "You have become such a rebellious thing. It seems my father cannot stand you anymore. It's a pity, but you'll need to be eliminated." Sophia refused to look into the Arabian's eyes. She only concentrated on the safety of a gun unlocking and the drawing of several weapons. The young teen composed herself before looking up with burning determination.

"_**No**_."

"What was that? Are you talking back to me?"

"_**Drop everything**_."

"My darling I thought you'd be smarter than this. Your pretty little voice won't work with us when we have these frequency blockers." Talia chortled at her not paying attention to the swaying of her henchmen.

"_**Now**_." Talia stiffened as she watched all the weapons fall to the ground. Sophia walked up to the Shadows' leader's daughter. "_**You've underestimated me, Talia. Don't move**_." The young girl ordered to everyone watching in satisfaction as she was able to pass the woman and quickly went to her friend and mother. You must go now, while the order is still in effect. I will deal with Talia. Just get the police here before I do something I might regret. Artemis nodded and carried her mom to the nearest fork lift hanging around the shipyard. They drove off leaving Sophia with at least eleven Shadows' employees frozen to her command. She surveyed them all and spotted someone she thought she'd never see again. Kaze? One of the operatives dipped his head a fraction of a centimeter but Sophia noticed. Talia watched her former pet walk over to one of the black masked men_. Kaze Imaharu, father's pathetic blind lackey if I remember. What's he doing in my team?_ Kaze was given the order to rise but could not move from his spot. I will deal with you later. "_**Black Spider, shoot every Shadows operative with a web, then yourself. Leave Kaze and myself out.**_" The spider-like villain carried out the girl's orders and fell with a grunt when he found himself off balanced. "_**Stay here until the police show up. Tell them Black Cardinal is dead by accidental drowning. The girl and her mother escaped on their own. Talia**_," The woman looked up with a glare. _**"Do not come looking for me. Pass word to your father as well. If he wishes to keep his silly organization, he better not come after me or my friends. The Light will fall and I hope he is smart enough to know when he is beaten. Same goes to you. I will not hesitate to end your life next time our paths cross."**_

Sirens of the police cars shrilled through the air and pulled up just as Sophia and Kaze went behind a group of blue shipping crates. Sophia and Kaze watched as the police scratched their heads but took the confessing villains into separate cars then driving off to the detention center downtown. As they sped away, Sophia turned to the Japanese man before hugging him greatly. Kaze I have missed you! I thought you were back with goat face.The Japanese man chuckled heartily and released the girl from her hug.

"Yes, Sophia-chan, however I escaped Ra's grip when he left me for dead in Bulgaria. How are you doing? Where are Damian-kun and Terry-kun?"

They're with their father now. I'm doing… well.She smiled and avoided eye contact briefly convincing the twenty-two year old that something was not right.

"Sophia-chan, you know as well as I that you cannot lie to your former tutor. What is the matter?" Sophia sighed and nodded slightly. She looked up at the man who taught her everything she needed to know about hiding the full extent of her ability. They started walking out of the shipyard, both performing quick changes into their normal clothes. "Does your lack of spirit have to do with your futago no otouto? Did you not find him?" Sophia stopped and crumpled to the ground alarming her fellow ex-villain. Tears started flowing again even though she tried to stop them. Kaze knelt down to her and started singing her an old Japanese lullaby. They sat like that for a good ten minutes before she calmed down enough to look at her teacher.

I am hated by my twin brother. He tries to hide his feelings but he does not understand that as twins we have a special connection in which we can automatically know the other's emotion. He does not fully know about this ability but… I am not sure if I am meant to be with him or his family.The Asian examined his former pupil with much concern.

"Sophia-chan, I do not believe this is so. I think he is just confused at the moment. He has only recently been aware of his blood relation with you. I am sure his family also enjoys your company as much as I do. Now let's go get a nice cup of tea. I know this special tea house near Twelfth Street. And when are you going to speak normally to me, again? I miss hearing your voice." Sophia smiled tearfully as they caught a taxi back to the downtown hugging her older brother figure along the way. The girl watched as the landscape flew past her window seeing the harbor when the car drove over the bridge. She remembered her first meeting with Kaze Imaharu. He was about seventeen at the time and just starting as a new recruit for the Shadows. Ra had introduced him as his new personal servant.

_"This is Kaze. He is my personal servant. Any harassment and I will consider it as damage to my property. Black Cardinal!"__Yes, my lord?__"Take Kaze to the cafeteria. He cannot see and will need some help orienting himself to the facility. Kaze follow Black Cardinal. She is at your one o'clock." Kaze bowed before heading towards Sophia a little hesitantly.__Of course, my lord.__ The two left down the dark hallway. Once she was sure they were out of hearing range, the young assassin looked directly into the new recruit's brown eyes. __You are not blind.__  
__  
__"What are you saying? O... Of course I am..." Sophia raised a small eyebrow and smirked shockingly well for an eight year old.__I know you are lying. I do not enjoy that.__  
__  
__"Wha... What? I can assure you that I cannot see."__And I cannot communicate without eye contact, seeing eyes. My mouth has never moved since we conversed.__ The man looked shocked, almost scared, but saw the intrigued look in her blue eyes.__"I .. Well I can tell that you are not truthful either." he took a defensive tone.__Do not worry, Kaze Imaharu. I will not tell. It would not be my place to give a secret when I myself have so many. Come goat face wants his food.__  
__  
__"How do you know my name? Who is goat face?"__I have my ways. Oh come on! You seriously can't see Ra's goatee? It looks ridiculous__. The two chuckled lightly as they continued on their "orientation."__"So are you like a servant here as well?"__You could say that.__ She sighed before looking away towards the oncoming traffic of the main hall. Many of the older workers stopped for her to pass by all the while eyeing Kaze with suspicion.__"Miss Saraphine," A scruffy bearded man came up to her with a curt bow eyeing the teenager with his good eye. "Who's the new whelp?"__This is Kaze. Lord Ra's new personal servant. It would be best if you do not allow any harm to come towards him, Hawk. He is blind but not deaf. Remember that. We need to fetch Lord Ra's supper, so excuse us__. The workers bowed respectfully before carrying on with their business while Sophia dragged her new cohort towards the kitchens.__"You seem to have much respect in this facility." Kaze continued his blind act towards their designation while secretly looking at her from the corner of his eye.__I am considered one of the top around here because of my master. You will meet with her shortly. First let's get your new master his supper, then you will tell me how you came to work at this hell of a place__.__"Of course, Black Cardinal-san." Kaze didn't expect a girl so small to be able to break through the cement arch entrance of the kitchen but she did without so much as a scratch on her fist. Kaze looked up at the eight year old with blazing blue eyes.__Never call me that name. You can call me Saraphine, never call me by that wretched name if you wish to live. Lord Ra and his alpha team members call me that but anyone else that dares to utter that awful name around me will not live to see the next sunrise, understand Imaharu?__ The teenager nodded stiffly, scared at the promise behind the little girl's words. Before he knew it he was shuffled into the kitchen and given a tray of food from a smiling Sophia. Confused by her sudden change in mood, he followed her once again down another corridor to a dining room where Ra and his family dined. Sophia knelt to the stone floor on one knee while Kaze bowed the best he could with his tray full of food before placing it on the table before Ra.__"Was Black Cardinal any help to you, Kaze?"__"Very much so, sir. Her methods are quite unique."__"Very good. Nyssa, Talia, this is Kaze Imaharu. He will be my personal servant from now on. I want you to help train him in our ways. Black Cardinal will be very beneficial to him here. Please leave me to my meal, daughters. We will discuss our previous topic on a later day. Good evening."__"Good night, father." The two women chimed while Talia walked before Sophia and Kaze.__"Bring him with us to the Sensei." Sophia dipped her head and took Kaze's arm dragging him with her following a foot behind Talia.__  
_  
Sophia jumped out of her memories when the taxi stopped in front of a traditional looking Japanese teahouse. Kaze paid the fare and helped his young counterpart out of the car.

"Have a nice nap?"

"I never have nice naps." She spoke quietly as they entered the building. They followed a young college student in a bright red kimono to their table. The two sat on mats under the low table while someone came by to give them tea.

"I come here often. The owner was a friend of my father's."

"I'm assuming he left before the raid on your village, yes?"

"Your assumption would be accurate. He knows I come every Monday about this time."

"How long have you been in the city?"

"A few months now. I work at a mechanic's shop down by Kings Cross Avenue." Sophia took a sip of her green tea.

"You mean the one next to that boxing gym?"

"Yes, that's the one."

"Interesting. I go there to blow off some steam. Maybe I'll come visit you." She smiled before digging into her meal. Kaze grinned as well and started eating his brunch.

* * *

**Outer space**

**Watchtower (12:01 P.M)**

"So how are the boys? They adjusting to a new member?" Diana asked the brooding Dark Knight as he typed away at the tower's computer. "How are things with Sophia?" He didn't answer and chose to ignore her question.

"I need you to ask Hal and John to help reinforce the tower's hull by tomorrow. There's meteor shower tomorrow and some stray ones may hit us." The Amazon glared at him before pulling him back forcing him away from the monitor.

"Bruce, answer me." Batman huffed slightly trying to get out of the strong grip of Wonder Woman.

"There's nothing to discuss."

"She's not causing any trouble, is she?" He said nothing and walked out of the room. "She is, isn't she. Do you want Clark and me to handle her? She's probably a terror since she's from Shadows."

"No. Just drop it, princess. I'll go find the Lanterns myself." He swished his cape around and exited the computer room. The Amazonian princess huffed indignantly before going down to the cafeteria. She met up with Superman and Flash.

"Hey there princess. What's up?" Flash asked as he stuffed his face with burgers.

"Bruce won't tell me what's wrong."

"Well Diana, he isn't the most open man when it comes to his personal life. It took him almost a year before he told us about Jason and then eight months for Dick. I'm surprised he even mentioned Tim."

"He has two more sons, Clark."

"Excuse me? Two you say?" The man of steel paled at her words.

"Yeah and he's got Dick's long lost twin sister with him too, remember?" Flash interjected after swallowing his ninth burger.

"She seems like a nice girl when i spoke to her, Diana. I thought she would be living at the mountain though."

"Who?" Black Canary walked in with her boyfriend.

"Sophia. I'm pretty sure she's being a nuisance to Batman."

"How so? She seems like a sweet kid to me. Very polite if not a bit out spoken."

"He's been brooding more often these days. I'm worried. I'm sure the girl is causing trouble." The princess sighed. The other members of the League looked at her in confusion. "What? I'm just saying, since she grew up with the Shadows she must have some ulterior motive to just appear now."

"Diana might be right, Dinah. I haven't met the girl yet so I can't really judge but it is a bit suspicious for her to just show up now." Green Arrow interjected towards his girlfriend. Black Canary puffed a bit of air up towards her bangs to get them out of her face as she thought.

"So I was thinking that Clark and I should go to Bruce's place to check out the situation."

"How are you going to do that? He hardly let's anyone come over. I mean I literally have to beg him to see my adopted nephews for hours before he says okay." Flash scooped up his mess of burger wrappers and tossed them lazily into the trash can behind him. The princess smirked and just walked away leaving the other four behind in confusion.

"You do know that she's dating him right?" Dinah laughed at the scarlet speedster. Clark rolled his eyes when Barry comically fell to the floor. Moments later a smirking Amazon came striding in with a small duffle bag.

"Clark, let's go see the boys."

* * *

**Gotham City**

**Wayne Manor (10:50 A.M)**

"Thanks Kaze. I'll see you soon." Sophia hugged the tall Asian before skipping off towards her residence. Kaze smiled with a brotherly love before getting back into the taxi. Once at the door the Romanian knocked on the door. Alfred opened it moments later with a mild inquiring look on his face but said nothing as she was let in.

"Master Timothy is in his room with young Masters Damian and Terry. I am positive they would enjoy your company, Miss Sophia." Sophia smiled while nodding her acknowledgement. She walked up the main stairs and turned a corner to Tim's room. The former performer could hear small giggles and chuckles coming from behind the closed door. With a knock she opened the wooden door and saw what seemed to be a massive explosion of paper and markers. Terry turned around to see who was in the room and smiled brightly before rushing up to the petite girl.

"Maică! Te-am ratat! Timmy is letting us color in his room!" _Mommy! I've missed you!_ Sophia chuckled when Damian followed his brother and hugged her legs. She knelt down and hugged them back lovingly before looking up at Tim who was fidgeting in his wheelchair.

"Hey Mitch, these two aren't causing too much terror right?" Tim gave her a mock whine while grinning. Mitch was a nickname Sophia had given Tim earlier that morning when she was half asleep and tried to talk to him with a toothbrush in her mouth.

"They've destroyed my perfectly clean room."

"Aw poor baby." The girl remarked back with a hint of sarcasm as she laughed giving him a hug as well. Tim returned the gesture the best he could while sitting down. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm all better now. Dr. Leslie said I can return to school by tomorrow."

"Why are you in the wheelchair then?"

"I like to pop wheelies when Alfred's not looking." He smiled impishly. Sophia placed her hand over her chest with mock surprise.

"What happened to my sweet and rule following Tim? Have your brothers corrupted you already?" Tim laughed loudly as he stood up from his seat while Damian and Terry started climbing their adopted mother. Terry sat on her shoulders while Damian seated himself on her hip. With everyone situated Sophia started bouncing up and down getting the younger boys to squeal with pure joy. Before they knew it they were being thrown into the air and landing on Tim's messy bed. Sophia joined Tim in the fun and started tickling his younger siblings who started tearing up from laughing so much. After awhile they fought back and tickled Tim who fell on his bed grabbing his sides laughing hard and their adopted mother. They paused to catch a breath when they heard the doorbell ring. Curious to who the new arrival was the small quartet snuck towards the banisters to sneak a peek. They watched as Alfred opened the door and stepped aside cordially to let two figures in.

"Master Bruce has alerted me of your stay, Master Clark, Princess Diana. Please follow me. I will show you to your rooms."

"Alfred how many times do I have to tell you to call me Miss Diana or just Diana?"

"Until my dying breath Princess Diana." He chuckled. The Amazon princess sighed half heartedly before smiling and following the old butler to the second floor. The man of steel could hear tiny footsteps disappear into a room. He grinned at the children's antics.

"How are things doing around here, Alfred. I heard you have another ward." Clark brought up casually.

"You are speaking of Miss Sophia, I presume?" They turned a corner to the guest wing of the manor. "She has been quite marvelous I must say. Impeccable manners and charming demeanor. Master Timothy has taken quite a liking towards her. Here we are. Princess Diana, your room is on the left and Master Clark's is on the right. Master Bruce's room is two doors down on the left. I will leave you to unpack. If you need anything just give me a call but for now I must prepare lunch so please excuse me."

"Thank you Alfred. Do you mind if we see the young ones?"

"Not at all, Princess Diana. Miss Sophia should be watching over them at the moment. Go to the end of the corridor , turn left and Master Timothy's room is the third door on your right. Enjoy your stay." The old British butler gave a curt bow before walking briskly away to start on their lunches. The two superheroes followed his directions ending up at the slightly opened door. They snuck a peek in and saw Sophia running after two toddlers who had managed to toss their pants and shirts around the room.

"Terry, Damian, get back here! You need to wear clothes! What happens if the guests see you in this state? Tim why aren't you doing anything? Stop laughing! It isn't funny!" The middle Wayne child just laughed as he sat on his bed watching the comical scene play before him. With a final lunge the former circus performer grabbed both boys at the same time and shoved the closest clothing item she could get her hands on, two of Tim's t-shirts that had been thrown from his closet after a game of hide and seek, over their heads. Terry and his brother seemed to be swimming in the tan colored shirts. "What am I ever going to do with you two?" She sighed with exasperation before smiling sweetly at them. She only received giggles from the two boys who ran over to hide behind their older brother. Tim was shocked when Damian curled up against him with Terry on his other side. The two younger siblings promptly fell asleep from playing so intensely leaving the recently recovered boy and the former Shadows operative to themselves.

"It seems that the two of them are pretty fond of you, Mitch." Sophia whispered as she began to clean up the scattered room.

"Hardly, Damian tried to eat me the first week he was here. Terry used to cling to my legs making me fall everywhere." Sophia chuckled softly as she stacked the littered drawings onto Tim's desk.

"They used to do that back in Arabia too. They were given the nickname, Tiny Terrors or Demon Spawns. It was just a game to them. It means they like you, a lot, Tim." She walked over and stroked the boys' hair.

"What was it like?"

"What?"

"Living with the Shadows." Sophia stilled for a moment unsure how to tell the young ten-year old when the mahogany door creaked a bit.

"That will have to wait. We have guests. You know even if you are guests, it's rude to spy on people." Tim looked over to see his two favorite adults, besides his father and Alfred of course, and gave the biggest grin he could muster. Sophia pried her two sleeping angels from their brother to let him hug the two super heroes. Slowly the two began to wake up, fussing only slightly at being woken from their nap.

"Sorry, we didn't want to disturb. My, have you grown, Tim? It was only yesterday you were this tall." The man of steel leveled his hand to his hip. Tim stood taller at the comment while Wonder Woman hugged him.

"It's alright, Alfred's about to call us for lunch soon anyways. Right Alfred?" The occupants in the room turned to see the famous butler standing perfectly straight behind them.

"Quite right you are, Miss Sophia. Please follow me to the dining room. I do hope you all will enjoy roast chicken."

"Everything you make, Alfred, is amazing." Tim and Sophia chimed as they carried the two toddlers down to their lunches. Once situated in the dining room the group ate in an awkward silence besides the small chattering from Damian and Terry who seemed to be speaking in their own made up language. Occasionally Tim would also enter their strange conversation but mostly stuck to eating his lunch silently, content on hearing the conversations around him.

"So…" Diana began. "How are you adjusting to Gotham?" The girl finished her mouthful and dabbed the corners of her mouth before replying.

"Pretty nicely, I think. It's quite different than any other place I lived. I like it though."

"Has Bruce been nice to you?" The man from Smallville interjected. Sophia started to cut more pieces of the younger boys' chicken before returning an answer.

"Bruce has been nothing by kind for letting me stay at his home. I am in debt to him for allowing me to be here. I must say Princess Diana that top compliments your eyes very well. Bruce has good taste." The Amazon raised a slender eyebrow at the younger girl's comment.

"How do you know…"

"My brother likes to talk a lot, if you don't already know." She smiled but Clark and Alfred, who had rejoined the group, noticed how there was a hint of sadness behind her big, expressive eyes. "It's pretty obvious there was something between the two of you. I mean from the moment I saw you I sorta guessed that you and him were an item. Mister Clark, your awfully quiet. From what Jason and Dick say, you have pretty interesting stories from your childhood, growing up on a different planet and all."

"Those two talk about me?" Sophia and Tim nodded swiftly at this.

"You are their favorite uncle. It drives Bruce insane, but you never heard that from me." She winked when the girl felt a pull on her shirt. Looking down she saw Terry and Damian doing that strange jig that everyone knows as the I-have-to-pee-really-badly-like-now dance. "Please excuse us. Terry, Damian, let's go before you explode." They hurried off to the nearest restroom leaving Tim with his aunt and uncle.

"So Tim, how are you?"

"I've been great! How have you been Auntie D? Uncle Clark?"

"The usual, Tim, busy." Superman laughed while Alfred removed the finished dishes.

"How is Sophia, really? She's not being mean to you behind closed doors or anything, is she?"

"Sophia? Mean? Are you kidding? She's the best! She likes to talk to me and doesn't push me away like I'm a bother like Jay or Dickie do sometimes. She said I could be her other little brother the second day she was here. Dickie and Bruce have been a bit cold to her though."

"What do you mean, Tim? When I was with Dick he seemed very happy around Sophia and Bruce offered her to stay didn't he?" Diana inquired.

"Yeah, I think he doesn't know how to feel about finding her just yet. He really is happy to have found her but it'll take a bit of time for him to adjust I think. Dad… to be honest I think dad is a little hesitant on letting her into his circle of trust so easily, so soon." Tim finished his plate just in time for Alfred to come back in with dessert.

"Has anyone told you that you are the most mature kid in the world, Tim? That was a pretty deep analysis." Tim shrugged while smirking.

"I am the ward of the world's greatest detective." At that moment two blurs rushed into the dining room next to the other boy, excitedly telling him something in their secret language. Sophia followed behind slowly before sitting down to eat the minty sorbet that sat in front of her.

"Alfred, you have to teach me this recipe someday. It's the best I've ever had." Sophia grinned which slowly infected the usually stiff Brit. He smiled warmly back at her.

"Of course, Miss Sophia. Please excuse me. I will be in the kitchen."

"Let me help you, Alfred." Sophia quickly, if not daintily, shoved the remainder of the frozen dessert into her mouth. Quickly realizing her mistake she grabbed her head and sat back down making Tim laugh and the adults cough to hide their laughter. She finally managed to swallow the icy treat and leaned her head against the table.

"I would much rather prefer that you stay where you are at the moment Miss Sophia." There was a hint of mirth behind his words.

"It's alright if you laugh, you know? It's good for the soul." She said sarcastically while feeling her adopted sons pet her pained head. "Thanks you guys."

"Are you okay?" Superman asked still holding back a few chuckles. Sophia didn't even raise her poor head and chose to use her thumb instead.

"I'll be fine in a minute." She sat back up closing her eyes for a bit. They waited a whole second before the girl popped up and started grabbing the two youngest boys of the Wayne family. They squealed in laughter before sitting on her lap. "Tim isn't your favorite show on?" The pre-adolescent looked at the giant clock and jumped up before dashing off to the entertainment room with his two little shadows in tow.

"Thanks Phi!" Just as the boys left Sophia turned to the two adults before her.

"Want to tell me the real reason you two are here? Bruce has meetings in the surrounding states for the next few days. I'm pretty sure Alfred can take care of the boys just fine."

"We just wanted to see our favorite nephews." Clark said evenly while Diana gave the girl a hardened stare.

"I may not be Batman, but I know when someone is lying to me. Something I don't enjoy very much."

"You're correct." The princess snapped. "We're here to check up on the family. Let's get this straight. Bruce has become more broody since your arrival and I do not appreciate that." Sophia steadied her gaze at the Amazon piercing her with her iced hyacinth blue eyes.

"I am well aware of that, actually. He has been avoiding me since I arrived at the manor. Don't worry though, I will not be bothering him for much longer."

"What do you mean?"

"I plan to live elsewhere, still in the city of course, but I feel that my place in this household is one of a temporary guest who has overstayed her welcome."

"You're leaving?" The three turned their heads to see Tim with Terry and Damian staring behind his legs with wide tear filled eyes. The trio twirled around and ran down the hall to the nearest place to cry, the living room.

"Tim! Terry! Damian! Wait let me explain! I hope you enjoy your stay here." Sophia almost growled out before dashing after the three crying boys.

* * *

**Atlantis**

**Poseidonis (1:22 PM)**

"Your Majesty, we have to evacuate the city! There was a massive power surge at the Science Center causing the main reactors to start leaking and the experimental neurotoxins have been stolen! Whoever did is attacking the city, you and the queen must leave, for the sake of your child." A guard swam beside the Atlantian monarch before pushing him into an escape pod with his wife and apprentice just as a dart hit him in the neck. With his final breaths he pushed the escape pod sending it rocketing through the depths of the ocean.

"My King, is there anything I can do to help you?" Aqualad asked calmly showing no hint of fear that his life underwater was being thrown off balanced.

"For now, Kaldur'Ahm, there isn't anythi…" The king was broken off by the agonized moan of his heavily pregnant wife. "Mera! What's wrong?"

"The baby! Ah! It's coming!" The queen cried. The men looked at each other with great concern, both having no experience with childbirth. Then, Kaldur did what any sensible person would do, call Batman.

"Hello? I'm a bit busy right now. What is it?"

"Pardon my inconvenient call, Batman, but Queen Mera is going into labor and neither of us know what to do." There was silence ringing in the escape pod as Batman tried to think.

"I can't help right now but if you call this number, xxx-000-5555, you should be able to get someone to help you." The line went dead and immediately the apprentice started to dial the next number all the while Queen Mera groaned in pain.

"Hello?" The phone spoke after the third ring. "Who is this?"

"Hello this is Aqualad. I called Batman and he gave me this number for help."

"Oh hello Kaldur, this is Wonder Woman, how can I help?"

"Aquaman's wife is going into labor and we do not have the knowledge to aid her."

"Oh my, I've never dealt with childbirth… Superman have you? … No? Um sorry Kaldur I can't really help you…" Kaldur didn't show his disappointment when he heard a "give me the phone… idiots." The last part being whispered as a female voice reached the receiver.

"Kaldur?"

"Yes?"

"This is Sophia. How long has the queen been in pain?"

"My Queen, how long have you been in pain?"

"A few hours but only recently has it felt this extreme."

"A few hours." He repeated into the phone. He listened silently as she began to relay instructions. Kaldur began to massage the queen's lower back while wiping her forehead.

"I will need to talk to Aquaman about the next portion." Aqualad held the phone up to his mentor who quickly snatched it to listen.

"Aquaman? King Orin?"

"Yes?"

"I'm going to have to ask you to see if your wife is fully prepared for the baby."

"Um… Okay?"

"Meaning you'll need to get your wife seated in a comfortable position with her knees bent and remove any clothing item that may interfere with the child's way out. You will need to place a cloth over her legs for privacy sake and see if the baby's head is pushing through." Aquaman paled a bit but obliged leading his wife to a comfortable seating position. "Is her cervix approximately 10 centimeters wide?"

"Yes?" He said uncertainly. There was a sigh as Sophia rolled her eyes from the other end.

"Is she or is she not fully dilated, King Orin? I need a definite answer."

"Yes, yes, she is."

"Good, now I need you to keep her upright at all times and put clean cloths if you have any under her. Tell her to start pushing." The escape pod began to fill with the queen's anguished cries as she pushed her baby out. What seemed to be forever the tiny cries of a baby erupted through the capsule. "Now wait until the placenta is out before doing anything else. It should look like a red disk connected to the baby through its umbilical cord."

"It's out." After ten minutes the king spoke.

"Great now you can cut the cord as soon as it stops pulsing. The cut should be approximately five inches away from the baby. Be forewarned though; the umbilical cord is rather tough. The new father cut the baby's cord and wrapped it in a blanket. "Congratulations your Highness, you've just delivered a baby. From the cries I can guess it's a boy, yes?"

"Yes, thank you, miss. I cannot express how grateful I am for your advice." Kaldur smiled as the new prince was given to his mother slightly missing his own family back home in Shayeris. "Kaldur'Ahm thank you for your assistance."

"Of course my King. I am happy your son's birth had no complications." He was handed back the phone to speak with Sophia. "Thank you Sophia for your aid."

"No problem. I have a knack for first aid." She laughed slightly hinting something hidden from the full truth. "Just call Wonder Woman again if you need more help."

"Alright. I do believe we will require some help for we are currently in an escape pod."

"Head towards Mount Justice. I'll tell Batman and Robin to meet you there... Actually they're not available right now so I'll tell Wonder Woman and Superman to help you."

"Thank you again, Sophia."

"Don't worry about it. I'm glad to help. I have to go now though. Bye!" Kaldur could hear the grin from the phone but there was a hint of sadness as well, but the Atlantian decided it was just his imagination.

"My King, we will head to the mountain."

"Very well Kaldur. By the way who was that young miss on the phone?"

"That was Sophia Grayson, your majesty, Robin's twin sister."

"I see." He returned his attention back to his wife and child as they glided under the water to Happy Harbor.

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**Angel:** Woo! I did a really long chapter... for me anyways... just for you all! ^^ I felt bad for not updating. I know this chapter is a bit...

**Kali:** Boring? Too fluffy? Where's the action? I'm getting really bored here.

**Angel:** No one asked for your opinion but yes I am all too aware that this story is lacking some action at the moment... don't worry more will come. Also the story focuses more on the residents of Gotham for a while... sorry! Don't hurt me! . Please review though! I really like reviews. They're like my addiction... like coffee and chocolate. Please don't deprive me! Thanks for reading!


	22. Chapter 19

**AngelWings: Finally! College Apps are finished! Now I just have scholarships to look for... Thanks everyone who followed, reviewed, or favorited this story while it was on hiatus! Please continue to keep reading and reviewing! **

**KaliScarlet: What have you been doing anyways? You've been done for at least two weeks now.**

**AngelWings: I know. I know. It's just this chapter and the next couple are filler chapters and I know there's already so many... and (goes off rambling)**

**Kali****Scarlet: Whoop-di-doo. This is one crappy chapter you posted just so you know. **

**AngelWings: I know that too! It's just that I... But ****I just ... yes it's bad... please don't hurt me people of the internet looking for entertainment.(x) Please try to endure through this horrendous compilation of words... (begins murmuring off into the distance)**

**KaliScarlet: It's not even good enough to be called a chapter. Tsk Tsk. Anyways this crappy author says she doesn't own anything in the story besides plot lines.**

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**Wayne Manor (1:22 PM)**

"So you see I have to leave for a little while." Sophia sighed. "I'm not leaving you for long. There are some things I need to do. It will be easier for all of us when I'm done." Damian and Terry just nod through snotty, teary faces as their mom explained her words. Tim remained silent as he absorbed the information. He knew she wasn't telling the entire truth for the sake of the younger brothers, but with one glance he could see her fighting the entire truth from spilling out.  
"Now why don't you see if Alfred needs any help in the kitchen? I think he was going to make some treats for tonight's dinner." The three boys got up to leave but Tim stayed back after watching his brothers scurry to the kitchen, Terry greeting his new aunt and uncle. Tim looks at Sophia peculiarly giving her a signal to explain further. "This is a mission I have to do, by myself."  
"But... What about..."  
"No buts Mitch. I cannot risk this family any longer. I'm sure the Shadows will not rest til they see my dead body with their own eyes. So by living here I put everyone in jeopardy. Also I can see that some people do not welcome my presence, and I would not want to make them uncomfortable, Miss Prince." Tim turns to see the Amazon princess stride in with mixed emotions but a hard glare. "I am completely aware that my upbringing as a member from the League of Shadows is less than savory to discuss with a believer of justice, but please be aware that I had no say on my past and should not be judged solely on this...flaw... I do appreciate your help back at the Mountain and have nothing but respect for you."  
Diana froze at the girl's words, never expecting such bluntness. She never expected such a respectful yet harsh tone of speech to come from a young adolescent especially one whose background was as she put it "less than savory." She stared at her for a bit not noticing a silent exchange between Tim and Sophia. Promise? The boy questioned having figured out the girl's ability of specialized body language. His only answer was small, serene smile of acknowledgement. The middle Wayne son quickly slipped out of the room to make sure the man of steel has not been traumatized from the youngest heirs of the Wayne family leaving the two adversaries alone. Diana continued to process everything, pondering the reason she had aided the ex-Shadows operative.  
Sophia waited patiently as she watched the cogs in the princess's mind churn. "It was based on pure instinct if I'm not mistaken, but I'm grateful nonetheless. I admire your drive of justice. I also appreciated the comforting efforts you provided as well, but I understand your discomfort after acquiring the knowledge of my background. I would be as well under these circumstances." Wonder Woman continued to ponder as she watched with caution at the rising girl who started back to the kitchen.  
"Wait!" The Romanian turned calmly to look at the woman gifted by gods. The princess cleared her throat and gave a softened gaze. "I know I seemed cold, spiteful, and I apologize. I just don't want this family come to harm. All these boys have been through so much I just can't imagine them being hurt again." Sophia nods solemnly with understanding. After an awkward silence falls over the two women, Sophia broke into a soft smile with an almost tearful expression hiding behind her bright hyacinth blue eyes.  
"I am so glad that my brother had someone so caring with him these years. You remind me a lot like our mother. Believe me when I say that I do not wish to bring anything to befall upon them." The older woman stared in shock at the girl's comment. The girl moved to the kitchen to find Terry and Damian flying as the hero in blue three them high in the air. Tim was helping Alfred dry dishes.  
"Mr. Clark, I have been requested from King Orin that you and Miss Prince see to his wife who had just delivered their son while fleeing their kingdom. Their Majesties are with Kaldur'Ahm at Mount Justice. Seeing that Bruce, Jason, and Dick aren't here you were the next best people to suggest to receive them." The two Justice Leaguers only had to glance at each other before rushing to their rooms to get their outfits. They flew back to the kitchen in record speeds before calmly going to the Bat Cave where a zeta-tube hummed into life.

**Mount Justice (2:30 PM)**  
"The Science Center experienced a deliberate power surge in order to steal the Center's experimental neurotoxin. I fear that whoever is behind this crime will use the toxins on the general public. Also the reactors have been reported to have leaks in them. The creatures of the sea will be feeling the effects soon, if not now if nothing is done about it." The king of Atlantis briefed his colleagues while his wife and apprentice were in the other room tending to the newest addition to the royal family. The superheroes immediately went into discussion upon arrival.  
"How potent are these toxins?" The man of steel questioned as he looked over at the gurgling baby through the open door.  
"That's the thing. We don't actually know how toxic it is since we are in the beginning stages but we do know that it is more potent than a poison dart frog. One drop could paralyze a man for the rest of his life. Right now I ask that you watch over my wife and son so while I check the situation back home. I cannot thank you enough for coming over in such a short notice. Young Richard's sister is quite the knowledgeable young lady; please express my gratitude if you see her again. Kaldur," The younger Atlantean excused himself from his queen's side before standing next to his king and mentor. "We will be assessing the damage done to Atlantis now."  
"Of course my king. Should I retrieve the bio-hazard suits?"

"That's a good idea, but I doubt the reactors have leaked that much. Come now we must tend to the kingdom. Superman, Wonder Woman, thank you again." The guardian of the sea went over to his family and spoke gentle words to his slightly apprehensive wife and giggling child. Kaldur quickly packed the bio-hazard suits in his water bearer container as a safety precaution. They nodded good byes to the other fighters of justice before slipping away into waters from the cave. The remaining occupants fussed over the youngest one who gurgled happily at the attention.

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**AngelWings: It's even a short chapter too! I'm such an awful person. :'( Also I will be overhauling this story so if can't find this story at some time it may be because I'm doing major work to it. Thanks for enduring that torturous chapter for me! **


	23. Chapter 20

**AngelWings: Hey everyone! sorry for the late update... Finals just finished and so... yeah... Kali went on vacation (Wooot!) I won't talk much now. Please enjoy this chapter. I have no ownership over any of the characters from the DC Universe sadly. **

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**Unknown Location (April 2011)**

"So we all agree that our plan shall begin in a week."

"Yes, our new partners have already begun their portion. It's only a matter of time before that pathetic Justice League comes crumbling down along with their little pets they call sidekicks."

"Excellent, now my friends, we shall discuss meeting destinations. I suggest that this location be rather secrete and secure. We do not want to have a repeat of what that inferior conglomeration, Injustice League's, failure."

"I know of a place out in San Francisco in a small back restaurant in Chinatown. They have excellent service, food, and discretion."

"That place you speak of has closed down recently due to leaked intel about operating without a permit or whatever. Pity, I know. Their stir fry was marvelous. I suggest we go to Blüdhaven."

"Blüdhaven, that city near New York City and Gotham? It's a bit close to the home of a certain bat, is it not?"

"That may be; however, I spoke to some of the residential criminals, and they told me that the big bat never stepped foot across the boundary of the city. It's a wonderful city with a slice of Gotham mayhem and a dash of New York's underground vibe. Also it's close to the pickup points for our partners."

"Alright then, let's settle this. All those in favor of attending the next meeting with our new partners in Blüdhaven say I." Seven I's rang out in the luxurious conference room, none noticing a small object skitter across the floor out into the hallway nor the shadow pass under the room's door.

* * *

**Mount Justice (3:45 PM)**

"Recognized Robin B01. Recognized Black Falcon C03. Recognized Artemis B07."

M'gann and Connor met their teammates at the zeta tube area. The floating Martian noticed her blonde friend shaking ever so slightly with a wave of receding fear rolling off of her.

"Hello everyone! How was your day?"

"It was eventful you could say, Miss M." Robin muttered slightly jaded. "How are you?"

"Eventful, did something happen at school?"

"More or less, I'm sure Artemis will tell you. Batman sent us over here but didn't tell us why. Do you know what's going on?"

"Oh! It's great news well I mean for… but then again their situation isn't the greatest…" The green girl rambled.

"Aquaman's wife gave birth to her son and they are staying here since Atlantis is being under attack. Aquaman requested someone to look after them while he and Kaldur help out down there."

"So we're basically babysitters? Why would Batman send us if you guys are here?" Jason questioned a bit annoyed.

"Well Wonder Woman and Superman were here earlier but they were called away. Flash has Tower duty with Red Tornado, and my uncle is working with other leaguers to figure out what happened during those missing sixteen hours." The girl continued rambling.

"We have a basketball game to go to since M'gann's on the cheerleading squad, and Batman said that experiencing a high school atmosphere was essential to my assimilation into civilian society." Connor spoke curtly. M'gann nodded her head up and down vigorously after she was done rambling.

"So we have to go now. It's the first playoff game of the season. Wally said he'd come by to lend a hand later. Bye everyone!" The young alien couple was sent through the zeta tubes before any of the other teens could say a word. The three Gothamites looked at each other when they heard a cry for help from the kitchen. They sped off to the source and saw a woman on the floor with a few plates scattered around her.

"Oh hello there." Queen Mera smiled sheepishly as she got up. Artemis walked up to her side to help as the boys picked up the plates. "I'm sorry about the mess. I was trying to make some snacks."

"You still shouldn't be walking around so quickly after giving birth." Artemis commented as Dick put his plates back on the counter.

"I can whip up something for you while you tend to the baby, if you'd like." Dick suggested. He and Jason started to prepare a simple stew for the queen while Artemis and she went to check on the baby.

"What's his name, if you don't mind me asking?" Artemis cooed at the newborn whose eyes had yet to recognize shapes.

"We haven't decided yet. I'm waiting for Orin to come back so that we can name him together." She smiled lovingly at the Atlantean prince.

"I understand. If the royal family is on evacuation, where is Prince Orm? Shouldn't he be here as well?"

"My brother-in-law is away to the Pacific Ocean to check on the subjects over there. Apparently there are some disruptions going on out there as well."

"I see. Well, you're son is adorable."

"He is, isn't he? Perfectly healthy and I could've never had him without the help of that young girl. Sophia was her name, I believe."

"She is really good at first aid." Artemis commented dismissively as she placed a finger into the baby's hand. He gripped onto the finger before starting to cry. Queen Mera gathered him into her arms and excused herself.

"He's probably hungry. Excuse me." Artemis bowed her head respectively before going back to the kitchen where her teammates were.

"Where's the queen?" Dick asked as he threw in some rosemary sprigs.

"Off to tend to her baby." The blonde archer observed her best friend's sibling carefully. Hidden tension riddled his body like he was once again at war with himself and trying to hide it. _His sister has a better hand at hiding things._

"Ah…" The younger Wayne continued stirring his stew while Jason was gathering bowls.

"Dick." Artemis stopped the fourteen year old whose eyes were blocked by his domino mask. "I need to talk to you. Jason, you can find Queen Mera near the pool, maybe." Jason scratched his head but figured it wasn't worth his time and spooned out a bowl of stew for the queen.

Moments later a blur of red and yellow flies in to the kitchen nearly knocking the eldest son of Bruce Wayne to the floor. Luckily the bowl of stew he had filled was on the counter instead of his hand at the time. "Dammit Wally! Didn't your mom ever tell you not to run inside?"

"Well no, kinda had to if she wanted me to go to bed." Jason face palmed himself rather harshly leaving a bright red mark on his forehead. "Whatcha got there, Jay? Smells good. Can I get some?"

"It's Dickie's homemade stew. There's the pot, help yourself." Within seconds Wally consumed three bowls before yelling in pain from his burnt tongue. "Did I mention that it was boiling hot? No? My bad, it must've slipped my mind." The seventeen year old snickered as he heard the bellowing from the rushing speedster trying to find something cold to ease the burns. Jason walked down the hall to the saltwater pool when he saw Tim carrying Damian and Terry.

* * *

The daughter of a criminal dragged her school peer into the library and sat him down on a chair. They stared at each other before she ripped off the mask to look into his eyes. The boy wonder hissed in pain since the glue had just been reapplied an few minutes before they got to the cave.

"What pray-tell was that for?" He glared at her as she gripped the mask with a firm, borderline mafia wife glare.

"You are tense." She stated.

"Uh yeah I tend to be when a newly adhesive mask is ripped from my face." He said offhandedly.

"About Sophia." She let those words hang in the air for a moment.

"I…I don't know what you're talking about. Phi and I are totally feeling aster." The look on Artemis's face read unconvinced.

"You and I both know that it doesn't take a genius detective to know you're lying. And don't think for a minute that Phi doesn't know either."

"What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with us."

"She doesn't even call you Dickie anymore! That's all she talked about when we were with the Shadows. It was always Dickie did this once, I miss Dickie and his laugh, Dickie did that too… and so on. What happened between you two?"

"I… It's… complicated." He looked off towards the bookshelves.

"You're fighting with yourself, aren't you?"

"I am not!"

"Oh right. And I don't have two cons as a family." She remarked back. "Richard," He looks at her with a gaze growing heavy with confrontation, "is there something you need to work out between you and Phi?" The fourteen year old sighed and dropped his head to his chest.

"I'm just so conflicted right now. I'm happy, beyond any words that I finally have my sister back, but I'm also so paranoid that this isn't some made up, screwed up illusion where everything will be taken from me like it did before." The younger Grayson curled up in his chair with his knees under his chin. "Then there's the whole thing about cloning. I mean of course I should know that she's my sister, especially with the connection I feel towards her, but the possibility makes me skeptical, even though it's just a little. Then there's how we were raised. I feel so guilty when I think of my life compared to hers. I'm under the care of a multi-billionaire while she's had to crawl her way through life just to make it through, and yet, she has no grudge bearing bone against me or the people around her. She had the making of a killing monster, but she's the adoptive mother of two toddlers."

The boy paused to catch his breath while the blonde leaned back in her chair to analyze what was said. "I think." Artemis began. "I think you two need to talk to each other. Really talk to each other about what's going on. Phi… she's been through a lot, so much that I don't think I even know a fraction of it. With her it's best if you tell her in the face what you want to say because she's been with so many lies." The blue-eyed superhero sighed again looking worse for wear than he started.

"I just don't know how… or even where to start."

"How about right now."

"Sophia! Phi!"

* * *

"Sup, Jay?" Tim grinned while Damian and Terry yelled his name happily.

"Guys, what're you doing here? Where's Sophia?"

"She went into that room over there. Is that Dickie's stew? Can we have some?"

"Uh… yeah there's a pot in the kitchen back there… though Wally may have eaten it all by now." Tim groaned before dashing off to the kitchen with his brothers in tow. A loud yelp could be heard from the kitchen after a few moments. Jason shook his head chuckling slightly before entering the room Sophia had gone into. Next to Atlantis's queen sat the older Grayson kicking her legs in the water, jeans rolled up, and cooing playfully at the newborn prince. Sophia looked over her shoulder to see Jason holding the bowl of stew.

"Hey Jason, come on in I'm sure Queen Mera is hungry." Just as she said that the Atlantean queen's stomach rumbled.

"I'm afraid so, Miss Sophia." The two laughed like they had been friends all their lives.

"I told you, Your Highness. Call me, Phi." The queen gently places her son into the younger girl's arms, who had already gotten to her feet, in order to get out of the pool herself.

"Only if you call me, Mera."

"You have yourself a deal, Mera." The baby gurgled happily as his hand found Sophia's finger. The two women walked over to Jason who handed the bowl to Queen Mera. With a quick waft, the queen dug in as regally as expected of royalty.

"This stew is wonderful! Young Richard certainly knows how to cook up a good stew."

"He really does. It's his family's recipe apparently." Jason looked over at Sophia as he spoke, but she was occupied with the baby.

"Well it is delicious. I think I'd like another bowl. Shall we go to the kitchen? Did I hear some other voices just then?"

"Yeah, those would be my brothers. Kid Flash is also here as well. You know Wally right?"

"My husband and Kaldur like to speak of you all often, so yes." The four traveled back to the kitchen where they find the four boys sitting in front of the giant screen television playing some sort of video game, bowls completely emptied. The older occupants of the room ventured back into the kitchen so that Mera could refill her bowl. When she finished that bowl she took her son back from Sophia's arms.

"He's a good boy. Doesn't seem too fussy." The queen smiled lovingly at her son while stroking his cheek.

"He is. I think he'll grow up to be like his father."

"That'd be good. His father is a great man and a great king from what I know." She smiled at the mother-son pair before she excused herself to grab some chips. Jason had moved out to the living room laughing as Wally was defeated yet again by Tim.

"You have to be cheating, Timster! There's no way you're this good."

"Did you forget that I have Jason AND Dickie for brothers? You learn a few things here and there." Tim smirked as he crushed Wally's character again.

"I give up. Jason, you can play if you want. I'm getting more food."

"Hey Wally, how's it going?" Sophia asked as she handed a bag of chips to him and walked to the souvenir room. Wally said his hellos to Mera before following Sophia. "You have a lot of things here." Sophia said as she placed Cheshire's mask back on its stand.

"Yeah, they're souvenirs. Got one from each mission."

"They're pretty remarkable."

"Thanks, I collected them myself. By the way how have you been? Adjusting and all. Dick's been pretty ecstatic since you came back, well besides that whole thing a few days ago…Sorry."

"No it's fine. I'm fine." She spoke dismissively with a forlorn look in her eyes. Wally's eyes softened as he looked at his best friend's sibling.

"I don't know if you know this, but in today's teenaged world, 'I'm fine,' means exactly the opposite. Hey are you crying? I'm sorry I didn't mean."

"I'm good. Really, I am." Sophia gave a heartbreaking smile. "It has been a bit stressful, adjusting you could say. I'm grateful to Batman and my brother for letting me stay with them, but adjusting takes time." They walked back into the hall, Sophia wanting to leave after spotting the epipen used on Dick's leg. The ginger speedster munched on his chips thinking.

"I think you two should talk to each other. It helps when you talk things out, especially since he's your brother. Whatever happens, you two have each other right?"

"I guess you're right." Sophia sighed she walked away down a random corridor.

* * *

**Pacific Ocean, Shayeris**

**Overlooking the city square**

"The waters have been tested in all areas of Shayeris except the for the lower west side. It seems that during the time of the attack in Poseidonis, a separate attack was done on Research Center here." Orm looked at his older brother with a subtle bitterness that went unnoticed by the oceanic ruler.

"Was anything taken?" The ruler of the seas looked around at the refugees gathering in the city plaza setting down makeshift tents to sleep in.  
"There was the spore detonator that was being developed for this year's ocean fertilization. Why anyone would take that is unfathomable to me. How is Mera, brother?"  
"I see. I also cannot imagine another use for that tool but for now we need to aid these civilians. Mera is well. She wished that you were there to be the first to meet our son." A strange glint flashed over the prince but it quickly went away.  
"Yes it's a real pity I could not meet my new nephew, but there was much to do here. Now excuse me, my courier has come with some more reports. I will see you later, brother."  
"Alright, Ohm, I will leave you to your business." The brothers departed while Aqualad looked over at the prince with suspicion after seeing the peculiar expressions he saw gracing the royal member's face.

"Sir," The apprentice inquired, "from what I have gathered, the northwest side has not been checked but there has been signs of contaminants."

"Of course, Aqualad, and I am assuming you also want to make sure your parents are well." The teenaged Atlantean gave his king a stiff nod before they went off towards the contaminated area, a feeling of dread pooling in the young man's stomach.

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**Thanks for reading! Until next time please review! I love reading all your comments and ... just thanks a bunch! You guys are great support. Thank you!**


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